Find space with the (un)magic Grow Button

One of the biggest challenges leaders talk about in the work I do with them is finding ways to step out of what often gets called “the weeds”. It’s that idea that, as a leader, you’ve got leading to do that requires you to be heads-up, scanning, and seeing the best options for making progress. And the thing that gets in the way of that is an always-on expectation that you also jump in and help your people to solve challenges that get you head-down and clearing the weeds.

It all comes from a place of best intentions, right?

The people in your team need help + You are leader of that team = You better help them out.

The problem here is that we often over-estimate how much of the challenge we need to take on. And in many cases, I meet leaders who are so deep in the weeds of helping, that their people are essentially outsourcing their thinking and problem solving to the leader. If those leaders were on the sports field playing for their team, they’d be spending all their time running to other positions and helping out…and they’d have no time, energy or impact in their own positions. It’s a pretty tough cycle to be in and there’s no magic trick to change it overnight.

There is, however a very deliberate approach you can take that puts the problem solving back with your people and lets you play in your position. I call it the grow button and, while it’s not magic, it can change the dynamic very quickly so your people start taking back their own thinking and stepping into challenges without needing you to do it for them.

Over the next three posts, I’ll share the approach I use in my Potent Leaders series – feel free to give it a crack with your people if you are finding yourself stuck in the weeds.

First up, let’s try and step back from owning this thing end to end. You can’t just dump your involvement in solving stuff for your people overnight. You’ll freak them out and, rather than easing them into the learning zone, you’ll create panic and likely one of those ugly fight-flight-freeze responses. You can, however, start setting the expectation that they do some thinking before they pull the alarm cord that brings you running. The way to do it? Over the next month or so, as people start coming to you with challenges, start with one question: “what does success look like?” Of course, ask it in whichever way suits you, but the idea here is that your people can articulate what solving this challenge will look like. Often they’ll just come with the problem (“This customer is upset”; “I haven’t got enough time”; “I don’t know how to do this”…) and it’s up to us to map out the way forward. If you ask them what success looks like, it sets the expectation that they’ve looked ahead. And (almost magically) when we do that we generate what’s known as creative tension. It’s the idea that when we know where we want to be, and we know where we’re currently at, the tension that exists in that gap seeks to resolve itself. And the way it resolves itself is by identifying the next steps to get to the goal.

If you’re new to getting your people to do this thinking, it won’t happen overnight. So just start with the questions that create tension:

• What does success look like?

• Where are you now?

Then, together, you can start generating some options with your people.

Have a go, and see what changes in the problem solving dynamic with your people.