You don't need to know all the answers

There is an assumption that leaders should know all the answers. When something unexpected happens, there can be a tendency to leap in and try to fix it, or to take back control of the conversation. Sometimes that’s right - in an emergency, take decisive emergency action - but often a more productive approach is simply to ask questions. Understanding the situation in front you, really digging into the problem, getting clear about what the causes are, brainstorming possible solutions, encouraging the other person to take responsibility for fixing something, all depend on your ability to ask great questions and keep an open mind.

This approach gives you thinking time. Time to work out what you know and what you don’t know. How big a problem this actually is. Who is best placed to solve it. How urgent or important it is. What you need to put in motion that addresses the problem without taking it all on your own shoulders.

By overcoming your belief that you should know everything and developing the skills that encourage and support other people to think creatively, you start to build your team’s capability to analyse, problem-solve and take responsibility. It’s in your interests to get other people to think for themselves, otherwise it always comes back to you.

This is also why I spend so much time in coaching sessions unpicking the problem. So often I see people arrive with a question or a problem and by simply peeling away the layers, paying attention to the feelings, and exploring it from every possible angle, deeper understanding emerges which produces a wider range of possible solutions. Sometimes the solution is to do nothing. It’s not my problem. It’s not a big enough problem to merit the time and energy it would take to fix it. The learning that might arise from not fixing it is more valuable than making it go away. I can’t tell you how many times a client will reach their own conclusion just from talking it through. They don’t need to be told the answer or offered suggestions. The answer emerges from the exploration.

Learning to do that as a leader is a hugely valuable skill. By allowing your team the space to think it through for themselves, you are helping to build their problem-solving muscles, and their capacity for taking and holding responsibility. It builds trust between you when they realise you believe in them. It creates a sense of ownership for issues and over time means they get fixed without you needing to be involved at all. It may feel time-consuming to coach your team through it at the beginning but it will save you so much time (and stress!) in the long run and leave your head clear for issues where you, and only you, can add real value.