Even the best servant leaders do this

Genuine servant leaders are my favorite to work with. They're humble, sincerely care about their teams, are committed to helping their people grow, and are willing to serve and support in a variety of ways.

But time and time again, I see well-intentioned servant leaders forget to consistently practice one of the most important, basic leadership functions.

Find out what it is and make sure you're not neglecting this practice in today’s Two-Minute Tip.

• Read the video transcript

  Well, you're getting me in the parking garage today. I just pulled in after driving downtown and on my drive, on one of the faster roads, it's 50 miles per hour. Suddenly, the cars came to a complete stop ahead of me, and I didn't know why.

  Thankfully I was paying attention, stopped without a problem. But turns out there were two geese in the road just blocking traffic, taking their time, hanging out. No baby geese involved. I thought for sure there would be some goslings there. Goslings, is that the plural? Geeselings? I don't know. Anyway, just two adult geese blocking the road and completely held up traffic.

  Well, it got me thinking, of course, not too long ago, I was working with a team, and the leader of this team was someone who truly cared about his team, like your quintessential servant leader.

  But there was one issue, one flaw that really was frustrating his team, and that was that he was terrible at email management and they would have things sitting in his inbox, waiting for review, waiting for approval, and it would just get stalled because he was not on top of it.

  And so today, my reminder for you is, don't be like the geese in the road. If you desire to serve your team well, one of the best ways you can do that is very simple. Be on top of reading, reviewing the things that come across your desk, the things they need you to look at, and be prompt in your responses. Don't be the one holding things up.