“You know, you are right,” I told Gretchen. “Your team, over time, has systematically become incapable of solving problems.”
Gretchen didn’t speak, but began to slowly nod her head.
“How did they get that way? What happened to them?” I asked.
“What do you mean, what happened to them?” Gretchen’s nodding stopped.
“When the people on your team started working here, they were full of questions. They were curious. They experimented. They made mistakes. They learned.”
Gretchen began to nod again.
“But, now, you tell me they act more like zombies. So what happened to them?” I was looking directly at Gretchen, not blinking. Her nod stopped again, so I continued.
“Gretchen, what do managers do to their teams that systematically, over time, disables them from being able to solve even the simplest of problems?”
Yes zombies describe it.
This happens time again.
People join full of questions, ideas, energy…
Soon to be told by the existing team members “you are wasting your breath, just keep your head down and do what you are told.”
I also have fallen into Zombie behavior. Then the manager screams and kicks about how no one is being innovative or solving problems.
Like innovation and problem solving is really what they are looking for.
There is a great quote that I have been using in my facilitation training groups “you do not know the question asked, until you hear the answer” Steve de Shazar
This is the same thing, you do not know what you have tasked your team to do, until you see the results.
Once you see the results then you can gain clarification of what and how you are delegating and developing task assignments.