79. 4 Step Decision Making Ladder (Lead Better)

My team sucks up entirely too much of my time. Every time they have a question about anything, I've got to stop what I'm doing and explain to them how I want them to solve the problem. If I tell them to just figure it out on their own, there's a good chance that they're going to do the wrong thing and I'm going to have to go behind them and fix whatever it is they've done. But if I stop every single time they have a question, then I'm not getting any of my own work done. Even possible to have a team that's equipped to solve their own problems the right way without you having to stop every single time they need something? The answer is yes. In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through the four step process that my team uses to coach others on how to make great decisions. Let's dive in. Today we're talking about the four step decision making ladder. Your job is to coach your team on how to progress from step one, which takes a ton of your time, all the way up to step four, which takes literally none of your time. Now, I'm gonna be completely honest, this process does take time and patience and discipline, but if you can stick to it, it's gonna pay dividends for you in the long run. Step one of the decision making ladder is when someone on your team comes to you and says, hey, I have a problem. What should I do? This is the most annoying step and the most time consuming step because you've literally got to stop what you're doing so that you can tell them what it is you want them to do. This completely interrupts your workflow and distracts you from getting the most important work done. That you've gotta do is instead of just stopping what you're doing and telling them what they should do, this is what you should do. Instead. Take a moment, pause, and say, great question. What I'd love for you to do is to go brainstorm three possible solutions that we could use to get through this and come back and let's discuss that together. Once they come back, let them talk through each of the solutions. Let them know which of the solutions you would pick and why. If you're disciplined about sending them back for solutions every single time they come to you, after a while, they'll start coming to you with three solutions in hand. When you once you get to the point that your team is coming to you with solutions instead of just problems, that means that you've arrived at step two. Now that you've got your team thinking in terms of solutions and not just problems. Your job is to now help them think through how to pick the best solution. So the next time somebody comes to you and says, hey, I've got this problem, here's three possible solutions. What I want you to do is to send them back and have them think through which of those three solutions they recommend choosing. But don't stop there. Also have them think through their reasoning behind it and have them share that reasoning with you. This is your opportunity to hear how they think, but more importantly, how you can teach them how you think. This is going to help equip them to make decisions without you in the future. This is also a great opportunity to show your people how you apply your company values to your decision making process. After a while, you'll find that they start coming to you and saying, hey, I had this problem. Here's three possible solutions, here's the one that I pick and why. And that means that you're finally at step three of the decision making ladder. Your job during step three is just to quickly validate what your team is saying. When they've come to you with the problem, the solution, and they have solid logic behind it, it's step three. You're just telling them to and take the action that they recommend. Now avoid the temptation here. If they don't pick the exact same thing that you would do, you've got to give your team an opportunity to make mistakes and learn on their own. So if the decision they picked isn't going to violate one of your company values, or if it's not going to put the company in a dangerous position, give them the opportunity to make the decision, to make the mistake, and then afterwards help coach them through how they maybe could have done it better. If you constantly undercut their decisions, you're going to find that after a while they're too scared to make their decisions on their own. Which means they'll never get to step 44 of the decision making ladder. Step 4 looks a lot like this. People will come to you and say, hey, I had this problem, this is what I did about it. If you'd like me to do something different in the future, just let me know. This is exactly where you want your team to be operating like 95% of the time by this point. You've helped them think through how to select the best alternatives. You've helped them think through how you think about things. You've applied your company values to that decision making process. Your team should be empowered to make great decisions the vast majority of the time. Like I said earlier, this approach definitely takes time and it definitely takes patience. But what you're doing is building the foundations to have a team that's both empowered and has the skillset to make the best decisions possible. It's completely worth the investment. All right, my friends, I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you're listening to this episode. In the meantime, I can't wait to see you back right here next week. I'll see you then.