You have this problem. The solution will require the participation and commitment of your team.
How do you know what the very best solution is? How will you get them to go along with the solution and stay with it?
Rather than asking those questions, what if you gave them the problem? What if they saw it as their problem that is affecting them negatively or was their gateway to them doing better?
Can you frame the problem to them? Can you explain the consequences for the team if the problem gets solved or not?
Can you make it personal? Can you ask for their help – their best thinking, ideas, and action on the problem?
Can you offer an individual or group incentive to solve the problem?
Can you set up brainstorming sessions for them, give them space and resources, put up scoreboards and encourage and celebrate their progress?
You are the leader, but you do not have to have all the answers or solutions. You shouldn’t care where the answers come from.
Facilitate, and use the minds and thinking of the people you have to solve your most pressing issues or biggest roadblocks.
What are yours? How can you get your team meaningfully involved?
When I was a Navy Chief, I used to develop my junior sailors by letting them make plans for work that needed to be accomplished by the division. I would tell them, “We need a plan but it doesn’t have to be my plan – it just has to work.”
When they produced their plan, I would evaluate it, praise them on its development so they had pride of ownership, and then help them ‘tweak it’ into an executable form that met the requirements for the work to be accomplished and the timeframe we had to do it in.
This did a few things:
– It gave pride in ownership as mentioned above, which also led to initial buy in to the plan and investment in its success.
– It taught them how to make plans for the work we did for their own professional development, and how to adjust and recover when the plan goes sideways.
– It gave them a distinct sense of accomplishment and confidence when the plan succeeded.
– It gave me a better sense of where my sailors were in their professional development so I knew who to work closely with to help them get to the next level that they were ready for, and who I needed to invest in to help them get ready for the next level.
– It built investment in each other, expectations of success, cohesiveness, and team spirit.
– And much more that I’m running out of room to include.
Obviously hit a hot button today, Larry – Thanks for the reminder!