"The wise man doesn't give us the right answers he poses the right questions." Claude Levi-StraussFor the past five years I've been leading a four- session training course aimed at helping newly appointed leaders in a government agency develop effective leadership skills. I cover communication styles, giving and receiving feedback, time-management and people management.
During one recent session, participants mentioned how often their direct reports come to them in crises wanting to be told what to do. Now this is a city agency that is completely overworked and understaffed. Not to mention, the decisions made are sometimes a matter of life and death. So when direct reports came to the new leaders for help, they usually told them what to do and in some cases did it for them. Even though doing so was frustrating and distracting, the new leaders felt that “helping” their direct reports saved time and avoided trouble. But does it really? Or does it create dependent workers who don't learn to think for themselves and don't learn to trust their own decisions?
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