Great comments yesterday from Dean and Prices on Reggie’s Challenge.
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“So, Reggie, here is my challenge to you. In what way can you get your managers to talk about those behaviors instead of you?”
“But I’m the manager,” Reggie protested. “I thought I was the one to set the direction. I thought I was the one to give the marching orders. I thought it was my responsibility to tell them what to do. It’s my responsibility to manage them.”
“Reggie, people don’t want to be managed. People want to be lead. It is your responsibility to set the direction, but from there, your role becomes leadership. How do you get people to think? How do you get people to consider different alternatives? How do you get people talking?”
Reggie was quick to respond, “That’s easy. You just ask them questions. But I have tried that before and most times, I don’t get any response.”
“And why don’t you get a response. What’s the problem? What’s going on the mind of your team member?”
“Well,” Reggie started, “sometimes they just don’t have anything to say, and sometimes they are afraid to say anything.”
“Where does that fear come from?” I continued.
Reggie stopped. “I guess they don’t want to be wrong.”
“How could you change that? How could you create an environment of trust, where no matter the contribution, it was accepted and valued?” -TF
I ask questions of my employees, and they provide answers but not always the right answer and as a result the conversation can appear to look like an inquisition… Its challenging at that time to not to revert to “telling” rather than “asking”.
Ivette, maybe this can help, at least it works for me;-))
By way of a rather strange comparison: The great thing about GPS systems is that they lead you towards you want to go, even if there’s an obstruction on the way. How does it work? They do it step by step, street by street with a calm friendly voice untill your at the destination.
About the inquisition thing, when people becomes impatient, their voice goes up and the beholder becomes intimidated, often resulting in silence.
But hey, this is only my experience.
I believe Reggie needs to learn to open the communication channels better. He’s not getting the communications needed because he is “managing” his team, not leading them. When you tell the team what they need to do and how to do it, then you don’t get any questions asked because they are doing what you said, word for word. By giving the team goals and direction to get there, but not leading them step by step, then you give the team freedom to think and do things for themselves within the guidelines you have set. With this freedom comes ideas, comments, and allows the team to think. Just make sure to check up on the team and ask them questions, but do not overdue it because they will clam up when they see you coming. If going from a management environment to a leading environment this change may take some time, but can be well worth it.