“Why can’t they just figure it out?”
The Decision
Mirror
“Why can’t they just figure it out?”
If you’ve led people for any length of time, you’ve probably asked yourself that question.
You’ve encouraged your team to take initiative. You’ve talked about learning from mistakes. You’ve told them you don’t want to be the answer for every problem.
Yet your office door still opens.
Your phone still rings.
Your inbox still fills with questions that someone else should probably be able to answer.
It’s frustrating. But before we conclude our people lack confidence, perhaps we should ask a different question.
Leadership has a way of holding up a mirror. We often believe we’re creating a culture of ownership, but our teams experience something very different. Every interaction teaches them what is really expected.
When someone makes a decision differently than we would have, what do we do?
Do we celebrate the initiative first?
Or do we immediately explain how we would have done it?
Sometimes our words say, “I trust you,” while our reactions quietly say, “Next time, check with me first.” People remember those moments.
Recently, I was facilitating a discussion with a group of business leaders when one executive shared his frustration that his team had suddenly started asking permission for nearly everything. His question was, “What happened?”
Confidence rarely disappears overnight. More often, something shifts in the environment that causes people to believe it’s safer to ask than to act.
Healthy organizations don’t happen because leaders make every decision. They happen because leaders create clarity around decision making.
- What decisions belong to the individual?
- Which require collaboration?
- Which truly require leadership involvement?
Without those guardrails, people naturally default to caution.
Simple tools can help reinforce that clarity. Here are three worth borrowing:
C3B4 Me
Talk it through with three colleagues before it lands on your leader’s desk. It builds the habit of thinking together before escalating up.
1-3-1 Method
Identify one problem, present three possible solutions, and recommend one course of action. Bring a direction, not just a dilemma.
The 70% Rule
If you have roughly 70 percent of the information you’ll ever get, decide. Waiting for certainty is often just waiting for permission.
Neither framework is about making leaders less available. They’re about helping people become better thinkers before they seek direction.
No framework can overcome a leader who feels compelled to rescue every situation.
If we continually provide the answers, people stop developing the confidence to find them.
Measured by how indispensable we become
→Measured by how many capable decision-makers we develop
So the next time someone walks into your office asking, “What should I do?” resist the temptation to answer immediately. Instead, ask yourself:
Because the healthiest organizations aren’t built when the leader makes every great decision. They’re built when leaders develop people who can.
Before you answer the next question your team brings you, pause and ask yourself:
Am I solving today’s problem… or developing tomorrow’s leader?
Not sure whether your team is short on confidence or just short on clarity? Let’s talk it through.
Schedule time to meet
