ARE YOU MAKING YOUR EMPLOYEES LAZY?
By VICKY BROWN
The sales manager just called. She says her assistant is awful and she wants to fire him right away. What should I tell her?
Have you ever had a member of your team ask you a question like this. Oh, it may not be about a personnel issue, but they have a question – about a relatively routine situation – and they are asking you what they should do.
What did you say?
Did you ask them a bunch of questions so you could understand the issue more clearly, and then offer your opinion, and then give them a course of action?
If so, you may have reinforced a really bad habit – coming to you for the easy answer instead of independently solving it on their own.
Now, I’m not saying don’t offer proper training. It’s critical that people get the tools and knowledge they need to be effective in their jobs. Onboarding and ongoing training programs are just good business practice.
And I’m not saying don’t provide support. Sometimes we all need to bounce things off one another.
But, if you provide both proper training and support, and you find you have a member of your team that consistently comes to you asking for the answer – well, you are going to have to push that baby bird out of the nest.
The truth is, we can, unintentionally, encourage this type of behavior. Because it’s really nice to feel like you’re the one who always has the answer. And it’s also nice to know your team member is going to handle the situation exactly like you would – because you just told them exactly what to do.
But, that’s all just feeding your ego, and not at all helpful for your team member.
If you keep doing that, they won’t ever grow, and you won’t get the time to concentrate on your other tasks. After all, that’s why you hired them in the first place – to free up your time. And, you won’t get the benefit of their expanded thinking or their fresh perspective – because they won’t have one, it’ll all be yours!
“…if you provide both proper training and support, and you find you have a member of your team that consistently comes to you asking for the answer – well, you are going to have to push that baby bird out of the nest.”
So, how do you help them break the habit?
Well, turn the question around. When they say, what should I do – ask, what do you think you should do. Have them walk you through it step by step. When they’re done, it’s fine to offer an opinion on their solution – but be careful here that you remain encouraging and don’t shut them down.
If they can’t give you a step by step, then back up in the process a bit. Ask them what additional research they think they should do. Then tell them to go off and do it! And then come back with a proposed solution.
Then, take a deep breath – because, I know this all makes things a bit slower. But remember, you’re putting in time and patience now for the future dividend of having a seasoned employee later. I’ll take that trade any day.
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For your team to be at its most effective, you have to get everyone in the habit of offering solutions to the questions they pose. In fact, my motto is – if you bring me a question, it better be married to a solution. This forces people to stop and think before just taking the easy route. And that’s what you want, critical thinking – that’s why you hired who you hired.
Collaborating, getting another perspective – that’s all great. Consistently asking for the answer is not. Gently train your team to bring you solutions along with their questions. They need to show you they have done the work, and put in the thought time to figure it out – and now, they just want our opinion or feedback.
It’s that whole ‘teach a man to fish’ thing. Being self sufficient is a gift. And it’s a gift every member of your team deserves.