1 | Welcome to Leading 1:1 Month!

Welcome back. Today we're diving into something that will transform your leadership more than almost anything else - and that's leading people one-on-one.

Here's what most people picture when they think of leadership: a leader standing in front of a team, giving a inspiring speech or running a dynamic meeting. And while that's part of leadership, it's honestly maybe 10% of your energy and time as a leader.

Healthy, effective leadership happens when you lead one person at a time. It's in those individual conversations, those moments when it's just you and one other person, where real leadership development happens.

Think about the leaders who have impacted you most in your life. I'm willing to bet it wasn't primarily through their group presentations or team meetings. It was probably in a conversation over coffee, a walk-and-talk, a moment when they pulled you aside and invested in you personally. That's the power of 1:1 leadership.

So here's my biggest tip on leading people one-on-one: make it empowering.

And here's how you do that - you provide an equal amount of support and challenge.

Let me explain what I mean. If you're providing too much support as a leader, you'll create what I call cozy employees. These are people who feel really comfortable, really safe, but they're not growing. They're not being pushed to reach their potential. They're cozy, but they're not thriving.

On the flip side, if you're providing too much challenge as a leader, you'll create stressed employees. These are people who feel constantly under pressure, constantly worried they're not measuring up. They might be performing, but they're burning out. They're stressed, and that's not sustainable.

The goal is to have both support and challenge working together. Picture it like this: challenge pushes them forward, support catches them when they stumble. Challenge helps them grow, support helps them feel secure enough to take risks.

But here's the reality - it's not realistic to be perfectly matched all the time. You're not going to nail the perfect balance of support and challenge in every single interaction. What's more realistic is learning to ebb and flow between the two, constantly making small pivots in your leadership based on what that person needs in that moment.

Some days, someone on your team might need more support. Maybe they're going through something personally, or they just took on a new challenge and need encouragement. Other days, they might need more challenge. Maybe they've gotten comfortable and need to be pushed to the next level.

The art of 1:1 leadership is reading the room - or in this case, reading the person - and adjusting accordingly.

Here's what this looks like practically:

Support might sound like: "I believe in you." "You've got this." "Let me help you think through this." "What do you need from me to be successful?"

Challenge might sound like: "I think you're capable of more than this." "What would it look like to push yourself here?" "I'm going to give you this stretch assignment because I see potential in you." "Let's set a bigger goal."

And sometimes you need both in the same conversation: "I believe you can handle this challenge, and I'm here to support you through it."

The leaders I respect most are the ones who invested in me individually. They didn't just manage me as part of a group. They saw me as an individual with unique strengths, unique challenges, and unique potential. They tailored their leadership to what I needed.

Over the next few weeks, we're going to dive deeper into how to have these conversations, how to read what someone needs, and how to create a rhythm of 1:1 leadership that doesn't overwhelm your schedule but transforms your impact.

Because here's what I know for sure - if you want to lead many, you have to learn to lead one. And when you get really good at leading people individually, your team leadership becomes exponentially more effective.

In closing, I’ll leave you with this to ponder: a large aspect of leadership is leading teams through change. And how do you lead a team through change? One person at at time.

On that note, that’s all for today!

Welcome to Leading People One on One Month!