The Mental Strategies of Top Traders: The Psychological Determinants of Trading Success

7.2. ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBILITY

There is value in giving team members more responsibility for making selected decisions and holding them accountable for the quality of the decisions. But, while some people are naturally gifted at encouraging others to take responsibility, others have to make a conscious effort to learn how to lead in this way. When a leader fosters the team's natural inclination to double-check everything with the manager, the players don't develop confidence in their own abilities. As one leader so aptly put it, "I would have to be the biggest egomaniac in the world to think that I, with very limited information and limited time, could make a better decision than somebody who is fully immersed in it."

Asher is a leader who has been learning this lesson. Asher is an idea person who is constantly in search of new ways to do things. This love of ideas is a natural fit for what he does since he is positioned where his ideas are valued, and he is able to create and design programs that implement his ideas. He is a very responsible person who has high standards. However, Asher's strong sense of responsibility causes the most problems with his leadership because he tends to overtake the work of the team in an effort to see it completed to his sense of perfection. In addition, he has a distinct inability to relinquish control or build a sense of responsibility among his team, and his sense of focus prevents him from being sensitive to the needs of others because his ...