<p><strong>Let's face it ... Business is a Team Sport</strong> ... with the Entrepreneur as the Team Leader.</p> <p>Consistently growing your Team's capabilities is a high priority. Over time, a growing Team will become more productive and efficient ... accelerating the growth of your business and producing clear changes in your bottom line.</p> <p><strong>As the Leader&nbsp;you also get asked a LOT of questions.</strong></p> <p><strong>One sure way to slow the growth of your business is to develop the habit of answering them.</strong></p> <p>Clients tell us that their Teams sometimes drive them crazy by asking for decisions on even minor things. There is only one way they learned to do that - YOU TRAINED THEM TO. You trained them by answering their questions in the first place.</p> <p>And that habit of answering questions and making all the decisions will slow the growth of your people and the growth of your business.</p> <p>===============<br><strong>Here's are some examples:</strong><br>===============</p> <p>"Boss, Chuck and I just noticed the last bunch of widgets came off the line without flanges - there's 200 in the box already - what should we do?"</p> <p>"I just found out the Havarti Cheese we need for today's sandwich special didn't get ordered ... what should we do?"</p> <p>"We posted that article on EZineArticles.com last week and it didn't get any hits at all ... what should we do?"</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Now you probably have a real good idea what you would like them to do <br>AND<br><strong>What happens if you tell them? <br>What happens if you "Fix" the "Problem"?</strong></p> <p>You&nbsp;feel great - a real problem solver... take charge kinda person... a decision maker ... perhaps even a bit of a HERO.</p> <p><strong>AND at the same time ...</strong><br>- They learn to come to You for all problems in the future<br>- They are taught Not to think for themselves<br>- They take actions based on only one person's ideas - Yours<br>- The possibility for professional growth and Team problem solving is eliminated<br>- If your solution does NOT work, you get blamed and morale suffers<br>- In many larger business, over time the employees become "Sheep", just waiting passively to be told what to do</p> <p><br>=================================<br><strong>What else could you do? Try out this scenario.<br></strong>=================================</p> <p>"O.K. let's have a Team Meeting ASAP"<br>- Ask the whole team for ideas on how to respond to the critical issue<br>- Listen to everyone's ideas without evaluating or interrupting and, if you give your input at all, make sure to GIVE YOUR THOUGHTS LAST<br>- Help the TEAM decide the most appropriate response for the TEAM to take</p> <p><strong>** WHAT HAS HAPPENED? **</strong></p> <p>- The Team has learned to solve&nbsp;its own&nbsp;problem<br>- The entire Team's talents and experience were applied to the challenge<br>- Since the Team&nbsp;participated in creating the action plan, they are automatically bought in to putting it in place<br>- The whole Team has grown<br>- You didn't have to work so hard now and you will be able to count on the Team's expanding problem solving capabilities in the future!!</p> <p><strong>You just accelerated the growth and profitability of your company by NOT answering that question.</strong></p> <p><br><strong>NOW THAT'S LEADERSHIP !!!</strong></p> <p><strong>Challenge:</strong> For the next month, keep a tally of the number of questions you DIDN'T answer and problems you DIDN'T solve. It just might be a tally of how much your Team grew in that same time frame.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> 2008-11-06T16:39:10Z 2008-11-06T16:43:07Z -15.6241 731 2157 true 17 1152 great-leaders-dont-answer-questions 10 2008-11-06T16:43:02Z 2008-11-06T16:43:02Z

Want to speed the growth of your Business? Don't answer your employee's questions ... here's exactly what I mean.

0 2009-02-24T09:46:58Z