Your team is watching how fast you reply

Most small business owners say they want a team that thinks for itself.

Then they answer every message within four minutes.

I have been guilty of this for years. Phone in my hand at the kitchen table, replying to things that could easily wait until the morning. I told myself it was being available. Being a good leader.

It was not.

Your team learns from what you do, not from what you say in the Monday meeting. If you jump on everything, they learn that nothing is really decided until you have seen it. So they wait. They ask. They copy you in. You get busier and busier, and then you wonder why nobody takes ownership.

What I am trying now is simple, and still uncomfortable:

- Non-urgent messages get a reply twice a day, not all day.
- When someone asks "what should I do?", I ask what they would do first.
- If their answer is 80% right, I let it go.

The last one is the hardest for me. My way is usually not better. It is just mine.

A team that never makes a small decision without you will never be ready for the big ones.

Easier said than done with two kids asking for snacks at the same time. But I am working on it.