How I Witnessed a Leader Emerge… Simply by Giving Her Space

Developing Leaders Within Your Team: It’s Easier Than You Think

Last week, I talked about the difficulties managers and leaders face when trying to carve out time to develop other leaders within their teams.

If you didn’t get a chance to read that article, it sets the stage for this one, but it’s not required to understand the present story.

At the end of that article, I mentioned that this week I would share the journey of an employee who climbed several ranks, moving from a part-time line leader to her current role as a team leader.

For those of you who think quickly, you might say:
“Team leader is the position directly above line leader, so it’s just a simple promotion.”

You’re right, on paper, that’s how it looks within the company. But here’s the journey this person had to go through to reach a role that, I’m certain, wasn’t even part of her ambitions when I first met her in 2017.

For practical reasons and to protect her identity, I’ll call this woman Audrey. Don’t bother searching, it’s a fictional name.

The Beginning

As I’ve shared before, I started my role as a night-shift production supervisor after the summer of 2017.

On my first night, I introduced myself to the team, which is how I met Audrey.
The first piece of information I received about her was that my predecessor didn’t trust her.
She was qualified to be a line leader, but he didn’t trust her to take on that responsibility.

The reasons?

I don’t know, and they’re not relevant to this story.

In a situation where I was short on line leaders, I didn’t see how I could afford not to give her a chance.
Also, our first meeting went well, and I found her to have a wonderful personality.
She was cheerful, got along with everyone, and seemed friendly with several team members.
All great qualities for becoming a strong leader.

But, like everyone else, she needed the chance to prove herself.

In the reality of my company at the time, we had lines for products filled hot (like antiperspirants and deodorants) and lines for products filled at room temperature, like shampoos and lotions.
Due to the risk of hot products freezing in the system, those lines were more complex to operate.

A First Chance

So I gave her the responsibility of managing a line that filled room-temperature products.
She progressed well. Despite her limited English, she made efforts to make herself understood.

One day, she had a conflict with an employee who refused to follow her instructions.
She came to me, asking me to handle the situation.

I told her it was her responsibility to deal with it.

I saw the stress rise in her face.

I reassured her by saying I would give her some instructions to guide her, but that her credibility with the team would grow significantly if she handled the issue herself.

So I told her to speak to the employee privately in a calm tone, to explain her expectations and why the employee needed to follow instructions.
If the employee absolutely refused, she could send her to me, and I would step in.

But that wasn’t necessary. She handled it perfectly.

The results:
The employee accepted the correction, and more importantly, Audrey’s self-confidence soared. That was her first big step.

A New Challenge

A few weeks later, I had another recurring issue to solve.
Another line leader under my supervision, supposedly with “a lot” of experience, showed zero initiative and zero ability to manage her line.
She would call me every 30 minutes for help. She was running a hot-fill line.

I saw that Audrey had mastered her current line and seemed ready for the next challenge.

So I offered her the chance to take over that line.

She was unsure at first, but I told her I’d assign the team leader to support her during the transition.
I couldn’t do it myself because I didn’t have the technical know-how to run a production line.

She accepted, and within a few weeks, she had fully mastered the new challenge, and everything was running smoothly on her new line.

Her Ultimate Test

Toward the end of my time with the team, one of my line leaders got promoted and left the team.

She left behind the most challenging production line on the floor.

Who did I turn to for the replacement?

Audrey.
Bingo!

Her reaction was the same as before and she refused.
I tried to convince her, but she kept refusing, most likely out of fear of failure.
So I told her I would respect her decision, but that I believed in her ability to succeed, that I would support her, and that she should take some time to think about it.

I don’t remember if she came back that night or a few days later, but she eventually accepted the challenge and unsurprisingly, after a few weeks, everything was running smoothly on that production line.

So, in less than a year, someone who hadn’t even been trusted to run a basic line became the person running the most complex line on my production floor.

It was the same person.
She didn’t take any intensive courses or training during that time.
She simply had the trust of her manager throughout the process, a few tools to help her along the way and most importantly, she developed confidence in herself.
And that last part is the most powerful key to success.

It’s our limiting beliefs and fear of failure that often keep us from reaching our full potential.

Her Rise to Her Current Role

I left my role at the end of 2018, and I believe she became a team leader in early 2019.
She had shown she could handle difficult situations and big challenges, which made that final transition possible.

Conclusion

As leaders, we often think that the time needed to guide someone along a path like Audrey’s is too much, and that we can’t invest that kind of time with every team member.

That’s false.

If you:

• Properly identify those with potential in your team

• Set clear expectations

• Ensure tools and support resources are available

• Follow up to check progress and adjust when needed

• Allow space for creativity

• Provide feedback to help your employees grow

You’ll build a structure that develops autonomous employees who can perform their duties while respecting safety, quality, and deadlines.

How much time did I spend speaking with Audrey over the course of her journey?

The first number that comes to mind is around ten hours over a year but it could very well have been less.

Want to develop more leaders?

Identify, structure, and step aside.

The top players on your team will reward your trust.

And you, who is the “Audrey” on your team?
Have you taken the time to reach out to them?

Discover How to Delegate Better in 5 Steps

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My practical guide, Master the Art of Delegation in 5 Key Steps, is designed to give you simple and effective tools to:

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If you’re ready to transform your leadership style and build a more engaged and high-performing team, I’m here to support you.
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Carl-Michael Tessier, M.Sc., MBA
Coach in high-performance team development and tailored leadership support