Because problems come at us thick and fast when we manage – especially when we are busy – it’s much easier to do something quickly about it. And so often, that’s simply the wrong solution…
Problems are a fact of life in any manager’s role. They come at us all the time and, with our people clamoring for speedy progress, we easily find ourselves obliging with an answer from the resources we have within us.
Partly made up from the ego that we feed by feeling wanted and capable, we so often resort to providing quick solutions that ‘fix’ the short-term symptoms of a problem. It makes us feel good to be the resource that others need.
This then means that our people continually comes to us to resolve their problems for them, even though they have their own potential to make the difference themselves.
As this settles into a routine, it keeps the pressure on us as managers, as well as holding them back from considering their own solutions and finding the answers they can create from their own latent capabilities.
The solution to this is to be prepared not to know all the answers, but to take time to consider the options that you can offer. By being ready ‘not-to-know’ – at least some of the time – you will leave a gap that they will begin to occasionally fill, as you take the time to fix things for them.
You have many good people around you who are resourceful enough in themselves to solve many of their own issues without bothering you.
By ensuring that you support them to find the best solutions they can and encourage them to do more of this, you will be creating an asset that will evolve and grow over months and years.
And this is an asset that is a value to you; to the organization within which you all operate; as well as empowering and enabling your people as well.
Valuable and capable individuals are the life-blood of any team, yet they only come from managers who are prepared to pay enough attention to challenging them to deliver from outside their comfort zone.
It’s an easy option for any manager to find the answers themselves all the time – yet this simply is not managing people. The best managers are prepared to stretch their own behaviors that bit further and develop their people to do the hard work for them.
Fulfilling their people and – at the same time – making their own lives that much easier too is a far better solution.
Providing creative, energizing and innovative outcomes that can only come from the enabling of many, through the vision of one.
