Leadership Takes Reps

I had lunch this week with a friend of 20-plus years who leads IT for a large state agency. He has 11 direct managers reporting to him and more than 80 employees under his leadership. Lately, his calendar has been swallowed by project work: new systems, deadlines, meetings, escalations, technical decisions, and the kind of fire drills that come with complex organizations.

After we caught up on family and life, he got to the point.

“Chad, I asked you to lunch because I want to become a better leader. My team keeps growing, but I don’t feel like I’m growing as a manager.”

So I asked about his management routines. How much time are you spending observing, coaching, and praising your team? How often are you meeting one-on-one with your managers?

His answer: “I have a staff meeting every week, but that is about it. I used to do monthly one-on-ones, but now I can’t find the time for them.”

My response was simple. If you want to become a great leader, you have to spend time leading, and it only gets better with practice. His first problem wasn’t his ability. It was where he was spending his time.

I get it. Most leaders are not ignoring their teams because they do not care. They are ignoring them because the work gets loud. But that is also the problem. Leadership does not improve in the margins. It improves the way any skill improves: with reps.

You do not become a stronger leader just because people report to you. You become a stronger leader by practicing the work of leadership. And practice, like any workout, only happens when you protect the time for it.

Most leaders treat leadership like something they will get to once the “real work” settles down. Once the project is done. Once the crisis passes. Once the inbox is under control.

But things rarely slow down on their own. The work will always take the space you give it.

That is how a leader can be responsible for a large team and still get very few leadership reps in a week. They are busy, responsible, and doing important work, but they are not practicing leadership consistently. They are not regularly coaching, listening, clarifying, giving feedback, noticing patterns, or helping people get unstuck.

And that matters, because leadership is a skill. You do not get better at coaching without coaching. You do not get better at feedback without giving feedback. You do not get better at building trust without creating consistent moments of connection. You do not get stronger by thinking about exercise. You get stronger by showing up and doing the reps.

Leadership works the same way.

If you feel too busy to lead, do not start by redesigning your whole calendar. Start with two protected rhythms: time to think about your team, and time to meet with your team.

The first rhythm is a weekly 30 to 60-minute leadership block. This is not project time. It is not inbox time. It is time to look at your team on purpose.

Use that block to ask yourself: Who is doing something worth praising? What behavior do I want more of? Who seems stuck? Where are people unclear? What keeps repeating? Who needs my attention before this becomes a bigger issue?

That block matters because a lot of leadership problems start with simple inattention. The leader gets buried, the team keeps moving, and small issues get louder because no one has stopped long enough to notice them. A good leadership block helps you look up before the problem forces you to.

It also gives you a place to practice one of the simplest leadership principles I know: praise what you want more of. If someone is communicating well, name it. If someone handled a difficult moment with maturity, tell them. If a manager made a strong decision without waiting for permission, reinforce it. Specific praise does more than make people feel good. It teaches the team what matters.

The second rhythm is a consistent one-on-one cadence. One-on-ones are the glue that holds great teams together. They give team members predictable access to their manager, and they give the manager a regular place to listen, coach, clarify, encourage, challenge, and help remove friction.

If you have 11 direct reports and almost no time, do not start by promising weekly one-on-ones with everyone. That may sound ideal, but it may not be realistic yet. Start monthly. That means three one-on-ones a week. Protect that rhythm for a quarter. Then ask whether you can move toward biweekly.

Weekly is great if you can do it. Biweekly is strong. Monthly is better than sporadic. The key is consistency. A 20 or 30-minute one-on-one that actually happens beats a perfect one-hour meeting that keeps getting moved.

And the meeting does not need to be complicated. Ask what is going well, where they are stuck, what they need from you, what you may not be seeing, and what needs clarity.

The leadership block helps you notice what needs attention. The one-on-one gives you a place to do something about it.

The goal is not more meetings. The goal is a better leadership rhythm. When one-on-ones are done well, they can actually save time. Instead of every question or blocker becoming a random interruption, your team has a predictable place to bring what they need. You also get fewer surprises, because you are closer to the work without having to hover over it.

That is what good leadership rhythm does. It keeps you connected without making you the bottleneck.

Then be honest about the season you are in, but do not disappear from your team. Urgency may change how much time you can give, but it should not eliminate leadership completely. Even one protected hour a week can keep you connected and prevent small issues from becoming bigger ones.

Move the status update somewhere else. Use the one-on-one for the things that need conversation: blockers, decisions, feedback, priorities, development, and anything the person needs from you. A good one-on-one should help the person leave clearer, lighter, or more focused.

This week, block one hour to lead. Use part of it to think about your team. Use part of it to reconnect with someone who needs your attention. Then take one leadership action based on what you noticed: praise something, clarify something, remove a blocker, help someone get unstuck.

Leadership takes reps. But first, you have to make room for them.

Chad Todd
chadtodd.com

P.S.

You just read about two rhythms that keep a leader connected to their team. I built Culture Wheel because protecting those rhythms is hard when feedback, recognition, one-on-ones, and follow-up all live in different places.

Culture Wheel puts those habits in one spot, so the reps actually happen instead of getting lost in the noise.

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