Recently, a client I was coaching said to me, “I ha
ve the experience. I’ve been there and I know what works and what doesn’t. I’m wasting everyone’s time by coaching my team to do what I already know needs to be done.”
I hear something similar to that frequently. The issue comes down to this question – Do you want commitment or compliance?
If compliance is your goal, you will decide what action to take regardless of what your team thinks. You’ll know what to watch out for and you’ll know, based on past practice, what has been most effective. You decide the action, tell others what needs to be done and they implement your decision.
It’s a simple, top down decision-making formula.
Well, maybe not so simple because it disempowers your people from making on-the-fly decisions and adds more mundane duties to your day.
If commitment is your goal, your experience will help you to know what questions to ask your team about decisions they make. Because of your experience, you’ll be able to provoke insight about possibilities, alternatives, risks and benefits. The other person makes the choice about what to do but they own the decision and they run with it.
Yes, there are some situations where the best path is to instruct and direct…but these are the exceptions.
Our teams want to know what we think and they want to learn from leaders who are more experienced. It’s important to share our experiences and our opinions. There’s no reason why we cannot, and should not, do this. Then we must get out of the way.
When we create opportunities for agency and autonomy we help our teams make the decisions that they can, and should, make. Agency and autonomy foster development and engagement.
Your experience is limiting you when it causes you to control rather than create. Is your experience getting the way? Ask yourself these questions.
- Do I genuinely care about what my team thinks?
- Do my behaviours in meetings and 1-1 discussions demonstrate a genuine desire to listen to and understand their view?
- Do I solicit their views before I give my own?
- Do I offer my experiences in the context of helping them to do their best work?
- Do I draw from my experiences to know what questions to ask them about their work?
If you’ve answered yes to these questions, it’s likely that your experience is creating commitment. If you’ve answered no, you are likely fostering a culture of compliance.
Your experience is getting in your way, and in your team’s way.
