As a team leader, growing the team’s capabilities is a high
priority. Over time, a growing team will become more productive
and efficient … producing clear changes in your bottom line.
As the leader we are also asked a lot of questions.
One sure way to stifle your team’s growth is to answer them.
Clients tell us that their teams drive them crazy by asking for
decisions on even minor things. There is only one way they
learned to do that - YOU TRAINED THEM TO. You trained them by
answering in the first place.
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Here’s an example:
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“Boss, Chuck and I just noticed the last bunch of widgets came
off the line without flanges - there’s 200 in the box already -
what should we do?”
Now you have a real good idea what you would like them to do AND
what happens if you tell them?
- They know to come to you for all problems in the future.
- They are taught not to think for themselves.
- They take actions based on only one person’s ideas - yours.
- The possibility for growth and team problem solving is
eliminated.
- You feel great - a real problem solver… take charge kinda
person… A HERO.
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What else could you do? Try out this scenario.
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“O.K. Stop the line and call the team up here ASAP”
- Ask the whole team for ideas on how to respond to the “widgets
without flanges” issue.
- Listen without evaluating or interrupting and GIVE YOUR
THOUGHTS LAST.
- Help the team decide the most appropriate response.
** WHAT HAS HAPPENED? **
- The team has learned to solve a problem.
- The entire team’s talents and experience were applied.
- Since they participated in creating the action plan, they are
automatically bought in to putting it in place.
- The whole team has grown.
- You didn’t have to work so hard!!
NOW THAT’S TEAM COACHING !!!
Challenge: For the next month, keep a tally of the number of
questions you DIDN’T answer and problems you DIDN’T solve. It
just might be a tally of how much your team grew in that same
time.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Sales Blog 10.23.08 at 10:41 am
Dike, I couldn’t agree with you more. Managers must realize that one of the biggest roles they must play is that of coach, and even teacher. If you teach employees how to use their thoughts in their day-to-day activities, they will succeed…if you teach them to depend upon a manager for decisions, they won’t grow, won’t take a risk, and won’t learn to assess risk.
Skip Anderson
Dike Drummond 10.23.08 at 12:01 pm
When a leader uses a “telling” style, we have seen many teams where the team members become the equivalent of “sheep” … in the face of a challenge, they wait passively to be told what to do.
By simply adopting the habit of asking questions, the leader can actually accelerate the team’s ability to innovate and take on new responsibilities .
ESPECIALLY if the questions start with the words “What” or “How”.