It's common knowledge that plants need sunlight and water to grow. Your employees are a bit similar. They also need two ingredients.

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They need your support AND challenge.

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The right balance of support and challenge will make or break any team. A good rule of thumb is to have support directly proportional to the amount of challenge.

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Most teams will fall under one of the four categories:

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1. High support/ High Challenge = Flourish.
2. High support/ Low Challenge = Diminish.
3. Low support/ High Challenge = Burnout.
4. Low support/ Low Challenge = Apathy.

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1. High Support & High Challenge

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Most teams flourish in this type of environment and look forward to tackling big goals together. Employees stretch without snapping and have the confidence that help is around if needed. The best teams live in this quadrant.

2. High Support & Low Challenge

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The manager indirectly diminishes the potential of the team by jumping in and “saving the day”. Teams get stagnant due to lack of learning and career development. They start believing

I see a a number of well-intentioned managers make this mistake. (I’ve been there)

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3. Low Support & High Challenge

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Teams are expected to perform at high levels all the time however there’s no support in place, no training, no caring. Employees know there’s nothing in it for them. The cavalry’s not coming and there’s no air cover. Classic recipe for burnout leading to resignation.

4. Low Support & Low Challenge

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This atmosphere reeks of apathy. Teams have given up, managers have thrown in the towel. Employees have either “stayed-and-quit” or on their way out. No one expects much from each other and mediocrity is topic du jour. This type of situation usually stems from bigger organizational problems and trickles down to teams and employees.

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[FIRST NAME GOES HERE], your plants can't just live off water. They need sunlight as well. Employees are the same. They can't just live off your support. They need to be challenged as well.

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I'm curious. If you were to plot your team, what quadrant would you choose? Write back. Let me know. I read every email.

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Keep leading.

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Ali

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PS: Last week's email was one of my most read emails of this year. I wish I didn't have to write it. Here's the link if you're interested.