Jason Daniels

How often in my role as an emerging business leader do I find myself eagerly offering people the answers to the problems or projects they are grappling with? I know at such moments that I’m on the hamster wheel, being busy, and only later do I remember that there might have been a different and more effective way in which I could have engaged my colleagues in what they were delivering.

Then, after a recent FED coaching session I took stock and considered again how my shadow as a leader might be impacting on others. I recognised that if I was going to really develop my team as leaders then I would have to change my approach. So I made the decision to make time to consciously practice holding back from using my intellectual energy, and giving easy answers, and instead encourage people to show their invention and express their creativity.

This of course required me to use much more emotional and spiritual energy in order to support and help people explore their own possibilities. And so with a particular team project in mind I purposefully avoided giving any answers and instead chose to ask inviting questions and hold these questions long enough for people to emerge with more purposeful enquiries of their own.

The result was transformational. Instead of it being my solutions they discovered the answer using their intellectual energy and their emotional and spiritual energy as well. As a consequence they have chosen to lead for change with this project, chosen to engage with key stakeholders within the business and have started to envisage many future benefits which the end product of this project can be used for.

The reward for me: fulfilment! Fulfilment in seeing them excited and energised about the project ahead, of their part in the conception, of seeing them continue with further ideas of their own, and of their vision of just what is possible and of what the end goal will be. Absolutely fantastic.

The leadership insight for me: Hold back on easy answers and search for those powerful questions that in turn open up conversations which allow others to draw on their own resourcefulness and strength, bringing their own ideas to bear on the delivery.

Leadership nudge: This week take some time to practice really listening rather than offering answers. Notice when you ask powerful questions how it has people engage with you and what they are up to in a different way.

By Jason Daniels

jason.daniels@central-networks.co.uk

Learn more about the author of this article, Jason Daniels