Front-load attention to catch wins early, then step back strategically

A support team onboarded three new hires. In past cohorts, managers stepped back too soon, showing up only when tickets piled up. This time, the lead sat near the rookies for their first ten shifts, scanning chats, and offering brief, specific praise: “Nice reframing of the customer’s goal.” The room had the faint buzz of notifications and the sweet smell of someone’s cinnamon tea. Early wins stacked up.

By week three, the lead stopped hovering. The team shifted to dashboards: first-response time and resolution rate. Check-ins moved to twice-weekly, then weekly. One rep started noting her own wins at the end of each day, tapping her pen against her notebook as she wrote, “Ask for examples sooner.” The lead began hearing, “I caught myself doing it right,” which is the moment you can back off.

This front-load-then-step-back pattern prevents the common trap of letting novices drift in silence or drown in late-stage criticism. It’s not micromanagement if the goal is to catch people doing things right and help them see it. I might be wrong, but most early errors shrink when attention is positive and specific.

The method relies on two phases of reinforcement. First, frequent, immediate praise for “approximately right” actions creates a tight learning loop. Second, as skills stabilize, data replaces presence, and self-reinforcement keeps growth going. This balance builds confidence and autonomy without sacrificing standards.

At the start of a new task or role, increase your presence with the explicit aim of catching early wins, offering short, specific praise each time you see a behavior you want repeated. As performance stabilizes, shift your attention from constant proximity to clear metrics and periodic reviews, then invite people to notice and name their own wins so they can keep reinforcing the right moves without you. Done well, you’ll be close when it matters and invisible when it doesn’t. Try this with your next new project handoff.