“Hey boss something came up.” “I need your advice” or “we need to talk” or “we’ve got a problem”. Sound familiar? Well of course you’re hearing this a lot since you’re the manager, the go-to person for all the answers, instructions and decisions. And what do you do? You allow the other person to data-dump on you so you get all the facts (and stories), worse – you ask questions about the issue (aka IT), and end the encounter with something like “let me look into it” or “leave it with me”.
Congratulations! You’ve inherited the invisible monkey. The other person had it before they came to you, and now you have it. And naturally since this happens quite regularly, you’ll be shouldering the bulk of the workload, pressure and decision-making. Is this what you signed up for when they promoted you to management?
Then the typical reaction of most managers is to utter those 5 deadly words, that guarantees to dis-empower the other person, kill initiative and create a complaining, abdication and risk-aversion culture. What are the 5 deadly words? Hint – it’s the title of this piece – “what you should do is”.
Now that we’ve established that you’re the problem manager (not your employee for coming in with the problem for you to solve), here’s how you become the solution. Watch this episode of The Sales Experts Channel with myself and host Adam Snider for the practical 3-step approach to improve collaboration, instil accountability where it belongs, develops the other person, coaches them to solve their own problem and challenges effectively.
All that for the price of watching The Sales Experts Channel with myself and Adam Snider. And if you’re committed to avoiding the invisible monkey become a better leader, drop me a line.
George
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