Are you supporting your team to thrive — or just keeping tabs on them?

Stop simply monitoring performance, and start creating the conditions for it to grow.

You’re doing all the right things: having regular 1-2-1s, giving pep talks, reviewing the numbers. So why are you still seeing flat results, low energy and a team that’s doing what you ask, but not much more?

The Assumption That's Costing You

Here’s the part most leaders don’t expect: Gallup found that 70% of team engagement comes directly down to a team’s manager. Not the market, not the targets. The manager.

So, flat results and disengagement usually aren’t a ‘lazy’ team problem. More often than not they’re a leadership problem, a gap between what managers think their team needs from them and what they actually need.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through what your team needs from you as a leader that they’re probably not getting, and how you can change that.

What Leaders Usually Get Wrong

Pipeline reviews, forecast updates and deal check-ins have their place, but when they make up most of your time with your team, you’re only having half the conversation. When the main contact someone has with their manager is just a check on what they’ve done and what they’re doing next, you get a culture of reporting rather than growth. Compliance, but not genuine commitment or personal development.

If your review conversations look like this, you’re probably sticking to surface-level monitoring rather than developing your team:

Reviewing the pipeline deal by deal

Chasing forecast updates and CRM hygiene

Asking “where are you with that account?”

Reminding the team what the target is

Telling teams what to do instead of asking what they think

None of these are wrong in isolation, a good 1-2-1 will touch on some of them. But if this is the whole session, every session, your team is being managed, not supported to thrive and perform at their best.

The 1-2-1 Audit

Before your next round of 1-2-1s, write down what you actually discussed in your last five. If it’s mostly numbers and pipeline, you’re monitoring, not developing. The goal isn’t to drop performance conversations, but you should make sure development sits consistently alongside them, not as an afterthought when results are already slipping. Here’s how you can do that.

What Actually Gets the Best Out of Your Team

Ask teams what leadership changes would make a real difference and the answers tend to be simpler and more human than their managers expect. Here’s what your team actually need from you:

1. To be understood as an individual

The reality: One size has never fit all. One person needs challenge to perform. Another needs confidence before they’ll take risks. One is sharp with cold calls but loses their thread in a negotiation. Getting under the bonnet of each person looking at what makes them tick, where they get stuck and what they’re actually capable of is how you get the best out of everyone.

Try this: Spend time asking your team members about their work style, approach and where they feel strongest and least confident. Factor what you learn into your management approach with each individual, such as communication styles, giving feedback, how you challenge them. A tool like Chilli’s personality questionnaire (find here) is a useful starting point if you want a structured way into these conversations.

2. Psychological Safety

The reality: High-performing teams happen when everyone feels comfortable enough to admit “I’m stuck on this account” or “that approach isn’t working for me” without fear of it being used against them. If your team only ever brings you good news, that’s worth examining.

Try this: Next time someone loses a deal or makes a mistake, lead with curiosity rather than criticism. Ask what happened, what they’d do differently and what support they need. How you respond in those moments signals to your team whether it’s safe to be honest with you.

3. Questions, not just answers

The reality: Most managers default to telling rather than asking. It’s a natural instinct, you’ve got experience, you can see the problem, you know the answer. But a team member who’s told what to do every week never develops the judgement to work it out themselves. Over time, teams become dependent on their manager rather than confident in themselves.

Try this: In your next 1-2-1s, let your team members lead more than you do. Ask them what skill or situation they want to focus on and build the session around that. When they bring you a problem, resist the urge to jump straight to a solution; ask what they think first. Often, you’ll find that they already know the answer. They just needed someone to ask the right questions.

4. Clarity

The reality: People do their best work when they know where they stand, where they’re headed and what the path there looks like. Clear, honest conversations about expectations and growth help team members to stay focused and on track.

Try this: At the end of every 1-2-1, make sure your team member leaves with one clear, specific thing they’re working on before you next meet and not a vague “keep pushing.” Make sure this goal is written down, agreed on and followed up.

Great managers aren't born, they're built

Nobody figures out how to be a great manager on their own. The best leaders invest in understanding themselves and their teams, not just their targets.

At Chilli, we bring the spark back to teams through development programmes, one-to-one coaching and practical tools that help people perform at their best. If anything in this blog post has resonated, we’d love to chat! Get in touch at hello@gochilli.co.uk.

Check out what leadership training we have to offer: https://www.gochilli.co.uk/leadership-development/

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