Evaluate yourself as a cultivator

In this article, we share a list of Cultivation Behaviours. They can give you some ideas about how to enliven cultivation in your team or your individual context. You many already be demonstrating some of these, in which case these might help reinforce your conviction about them.

*Notes:

• While we are calling this list Cultivation behaviours for the sake of simplicity, they are in reality a combination of behaviours, mindsets & skills.
• Some of these are applicable to everyone irrespective of roles, and others may seem more relevant if you are in a leadership role. Pick the ones that make most sense for your context as you work with them.

How to use this list of behaviours

1. Self-assess & plan your development: How well and frequently do you display these behaviours? What might be your strengths? What might you need to improve? What do you want to focus on developing?
2. Coach your team members / mentees / coachees on these behaviours: Use these as a reference point when having growth & development conversations with your team members, especially those who play some kind of leadership role. You can do the same with people you coach or mentor.
3. Use for self-assessing the team: Use these behaviours (you can pick and choose the relevant ones for you) and do a team activity to assess where you stand as a team in displaying these behaviours. What do you do well as a team? What do you need to do more of? How can the team enhance these behaviours & display them more frequently? Make an action plan and do regular check-ins.

There are many more ways in which you can use these as an individual or as teams, go ahead and find your own unique way of using them.

Cultivation Behaviours

There are six main clusters which have behaviours listed under them:

I. CHAMPIONING FEEDBACK

1. I give feedback to those who work with me in a timely, specific and frequent manner
2. I intentionally seek and receive feedback and reflect on how to use it to improve my work
3. I praise and acknowledge others when I experience their positive impact
4. I don't shy away from giving tough feedback so long as I am genuinely convinced it will help the other person grow

II. KNOWLEDGE SHARING

1. I actively share my knowledge in order to help others in my team / organisation learn & grow
2. I encourage my colleagues to learn and share frequently & I participate actively when they do so

IV. MENTORING & COACHING

1. I spend time to understand my team members' goals & aspirations
2. I have developmental conversations with my team members frequently .
3. I actively mentor my team members to ensure that they are learning important skills, especially when they are in stretch roles / tasks
4. I can guide my team members in thinking about their career journey
5. I am able to understand different learning styles of people & support them accordingly

V. EMPOWER & GROW OTHERS

1. I share the big picture of the business / client goals with my team members and help them connect their contributions with it
2. I create an environment where team members feel safe to make mistakes & learn
3. I encourage my team members to take on new responsibilities so that they can stretch themselves and learn relevant skills
4. I encourage people to try new things at work to expand their horizons and learn new skills
5. I constantly find ways to reduce dependencies on me by empowering my team members
6. I connect team members to opportunities in the system where or can apply / grow their strengths or interests
7. I frequently reflect on who I have helped grow and how I can keep enabling in the future
8. I am not attached to my idea of what growth means to another person

VI. AVOIDING BIAS

1. I constantly reflect on the judgements and biases I may be holding about the people I wish to / am responsible for growing
2. I have the ability to hold my judgements about people tentatively

Acknowledgement: Raja Chidambaram helped us put together our initial list of cultivation behaviours.

Cover Image Credit:  Nahuel Hawkes on Unsplash