"When I was training to be a supervisor in my current role, and I was leading a team, I would do my best to balance keeping my finger on the pulse on how things are going without micromanaging and trusting my team to be self-managed in their work. I need to show them I trust them, while ensuring I retain their trust. But, on occasion, you can get a feeling for when someone is struggling to keep up. It's the stress that crinkles their forehead or makes their shoulders ride up. So, you passively check in on them, and ask how things are going, see their progress on whatever they're working on, and then offer suggestions. Last week, this same situation unfolded. I asked them about their approach to tackling the work, and they were performing tiny tasks then trying to piece them together as a whole, which was resulting in rework and slowing them down. I asked them if I could show them the approach I developed after struggling with similar issues. They agreed and swiftly adopted my approach. Soon, they were constantly asking for feedback and tips. Over the next month and a half, their productivity soared."
