Great Leaders and Problem Solving

Leaders often think that being a good leader means solving all problems within a company. It is my belief that leaders should equip a team to solve their own problems, client problems and the team’s problems. Often an entrepreneur steps in when an employee is stuck or does something wrong. This is a time for a leader to teach and consult versus their first instinct, which is to just show the employee the right answer as quickly as possible.

If a team member is unable to solve a problem, if they say they are “stuck”, I teach leaders to say to the employee, “what would you do in the event I wasn't here to help?”. This gives the team member the chance to flex their own brain power and come up with their own solution. It may not be the right answer, but it gives the entrepreneur a place to go and a way to show options. It’s alright for a leader to say, “you’re close, but have you thought about x, y or z”? It’s critical to offer ways for the team member to think through things. It’s okay to say, “wow, that is a terrible idea”! Doing so gives the leader a better idea of where each employee is on their competence ladder and guides the employee to the way to solve the problem. Here’s where things can go wrong. A leader may want to keep moving forward so quickly that he or she simply says, “nope, do it this way”. When this happens, when there is an answer without any perspective share, the leader really never knows the employee’s competence level and growth stops.

Yes, the leader may be the smartest person in the room on some occasions, but there will be no scale or growth if a leader doesn’t give others an opportunity to answer to and to fix some problems. The ability to allow perspective share to get to the right answer is one way great leaders shine.