As leaders we often fall into the trap of feeling we are the architects of all solutions in the company. We are the ones who know best so we forge ahead with our ideas.
The truth of the matter usually is that it is not the core leaders who are the architects of success but the everyday worker. They feel and experience the frustrations of poor processes or systems and/or poor leadership.
We need to step back from the old style of leadership and empower our people to make decisions, look for solutions and take calculated risks. We have been saying this for decades but what has really changed?
In the past 15 years of consulting, RdL has experienced many examples of how the leaders have stepped back and enabled their people to discover and design the solution. It is not easy stepping back and seeing people make decisions that you know will not work, but unless we allow them to make the mistake, and learn from the mistake, we will forever be spoon feeding them the solution – something great leaders do not have time for.
As leaders, and based on our experience as we grew into our roles, we have our perceived solutions, but we must enable our minds to wander and see that there are other designs for the solution that will work.
Giving our people the autonomy to think outside the square, bring their solutions to the table and grow as the future leaders may in fact be the best and right solution for the problem at hand.
