The Two-Questions Leaders Can Use to Build Self-Sufficient Teams: CLUE - Identify What The Team Actually Needs Not Just What They Want

One of your team members comes to you with a question.

You have the answer. You give it to them. They thank you and leave.

You feel helpful. You feel valuable.

So far so good ...

Then they come back tomorrow with another question. And the next day. And the next.

What we thought was helpful in the moment is creating a longer-term problem, which is much more difficult to resolve.

If this is a pattern you are noticing, then this blog is here to help, and I am going to share a technique I teach with my clients to help them become more effective as leaders and at the same time, their teams to become more confident and self-sufficient.

The Two Questions That Change Everything

Most leaders get stuck just answering the question. They jump in with the solution, make the decision, give the answer.

The most efficient and effective leaders, the ones who are intentional, pause before they answer.

They answer with a question first.

Before you respond, two questions matter:

1. What hat are they wearing when they ask the question?

In what capacity are they asking? Are they asking personally? Are they asking for the role they're in? Are they asking from the perspective of a project they're working on?

What's the purpose of the question? How will they apply that answer once they get it?

2. What hat do you need to be wearing when you respond?

What capacity are you answering in? Are you answering as their manager? As a subject matter expert? As the decision maker? As a coach?

Especially if you're someone who works in a role where you have different portfolios, you might need to think about the question in different ways.

I want to share an example with you, as this came up with a client recently. They were working with someone who'd been promoted. This person had previously been in a role where they had access to a lot of information, good eyes and ears over what was happening within the department. Now that they had been promoted, they had less access to information, and they weren't used to that.

They were asking a lot of questions, and it was very hard for this leader to tell whether they needed to know the answer or whether they wanted to know the answer because they were used to 'knowing'.

This made it difficult for the leader, to potentially filter that answer to make sure it was appropriate for the role they are now in, not the role they had been in before.

I shared the technique of the two questions with them and together we explored: what hat are they wearing? Are they asking this question with the old hat from the role they were in before? Or are they asking from the perspective of the role they are in now?

Asking that question helps the leader understand the purpose of the question and be able to contract where this conversation goes and how that leader is best placed to support them. Otherwise, you might be giving out information that isn't relevant or appropriate.

We also explored what hats the leader could wear to answer the question and whether or not the change of hat, could change the answer, and the dynamic of the conversation.

The KSA Bridge Framework: What Do They Actually Need?

Once you've worked out the hats, you want to make sure you are working out what it is they actually need so you can help them in the best possible way.

Most of the time, when members of your team come to you, they're going to want a quick answer. They want a quick decision, and then they can go off and implement what advice you've given or what decision you've made.

That isn't what builds a confident, competent, and resilient team.

Whilst it is a short-term fix, and it removes the pain point in the moment, it often creates a longer-term problem, which creates a much longer-term pain point.

There is a difference between where your team are now and where you want them to be. We want to bridge that gap.

When you understand what is in that gap, you can understand what is the best bridge to get them from where they are now to where the need to go.

It will normally fall under one of three categories:

• a knowledge gap,

• a skills gap,

• an action gap.

  
  

If it's a knowledge gap, they don't know.

When this happens, you want to wear your mentor hat or your trainer hat. You want to give them the information they need.

Share information, signpost resources, and help them fill in that gap.

This is when giving the answer is helpful.

If it's a skills gap, they know what to do, but they need to develop that capability.

You want to wear the coach or developer hat here. Ask them questions or create a safe space for them to practice the skill.

When we talk about delegation, it is supporting them to practice that skill with your support, with your guidance. You are guiding them through the process. You are most definitely not doing it for them, but you are supporting them to develop that skill.

If it's an action gap, they know what to do, they can do it, but they're not doing it consistently.

This is where you wear an accountability hat and also a coaching hat. You can ask them questions. What's stopping them? What's holding them back? What do they need to do differently?

You can ask them questions about mindset and confidence, and what they believe to be true. Anything that helps them identify what is getting in the way of them taking consistent action.

You're wearing a coaching hat to help guide them to explore the blocker, and you are supporting them to hold themselves accountable to take action.

When You Wear the Wrong Hat

When you wear the wrong hat, you risk being unhelpful. There is a strong possibility you aren't being as helpful as you think you are.

When there is a knowledge gap, but you wear the coaching hat, you are just adding to the frustration.

They don't know, and you are asking them questions. Many of us will have been in a scenario where we've gone to a manager to ask a question because we don't know, and they use the very standard coaching questions. "What do you think?" and you are thinking, "I don't know what to think because I don't know!".

They don't have the information they need to help them move forward.

When there is a skills gap and you put on the expert hat, you're creating dependency 

You're doing it for them, you're not giving them the opportunity to learn and to grow. They need to put the knowledge into practice. Rolling up your sleeves here and doing it for them doesn't help them to move forward.

When there's an action gap, and you put on a mentor hat, you're just giving them more information that they don't need. 

You aren't helping them to identify what is preventing them from moving forward. They need to understand why they aren't taking action, or they aren't showing up. Unless you get clarity on what the blocker is then your solution may not solve the actual problem.

The individual needs you to coach and guide them so that they understand what is happening so that they truly understand what the blocker is and can therefore identify the best possible solution for them to take action and consistent action.

The wrong hat equals the wrong help.

How You Respond Now, Trains How They Ask in The Future

I experienced this when I went from team leader to senior leader. I went from a role where I knew all the answers and had all the information. I'd worked in that area of the business for a very long time and I was very used to people coming to me for answers, advice and guidance.

I had a lot of pride in the fact that people came to me because I had the knowledge, because I had the skills and the experience. I loved the fact that I was able to help people by giving them the answers. I wore the nickname 'The Oracle' with pride!

But then it gets to a certain point where you find that the same people are asking the same questions. The same people are getting very reliant on coming to you and running everything by you. They don't need you to make the decision because it needs somebody with that authority.

They're coming to you because they've got used to coming to you.

You end up being a comfort blanket. What starts as being something you're very proud about starts to become the frustration.

That changed when I went into the senior leadership role in a department and an area of the business I had never worked in. If somebody came to me with a knowledge or skills gap, I was not the one that was able to help them.

However, I soon learned that I could put on that coaching hat and ask them questions to establish what was needed, help them to resolve it themselves or signpost them to somebody who would be able to give them that information to fill the knowledge gap or support them with the skills gap.

I had to let go of the belief that having all the knowledge and the skills was what good looked like, and shift the belief to recognise that leadership at this level would look and feel different.

That enabled me to work on how I could still support them by putting on a different hat to be able to both help them in the moment and help them longer term as well.

They needed me to listen, to ask questions so that they could make the decisions with the knowledge that they had, with the skills that they had, and based on their experience and expertise.

Different hat completely.

Completely different way of supporting people and yet still very much supporting people.

How to Build Self-Sufficient Teams, Not Dependent Ones.

If you want fewer questions, you need to coach them to explore and find the answers. Help them to explore things from a different perspective. Help them to find the answers for themselves.

That is how you build the capability. That's how you increase the competency. It's also how you increase their confidence and resilience, instead of that dependency.

The more you ask these questions, the more they understand which hat they're wearing. So when they come to you with a question or a problem, they know what their intention and purpose is. They are already thinking about what you're going to ask them before you ask them. They are prepared for those conversations and they'll develop those questions.

Sometimes in working that out, they work it out and don't need you at all! This is a definite bonus because now they're getting more confident in their own competence, in their knowledge, in their skills, and in their ability to be able to take action.

This helps them to shift their identity as well. They start to see themselves as somebody who can answer the questions, who is able to work things out, make a decision, and take action on it. They don't need to go and see their team leader every time something happens.

You're building confidence, capability and unlocking their potential.

Think about the hats. Think about the KSA Bridge. Diagnose what it is they actually need so you can choose the right leadership approach to respond.

That clarity will be the difference between reactive leadership that happens by default and intentional leadership that happens by design.

That's what helps you to become more efficient and more effective. It's what helps your team to become more confident, more capable, and more self-sufficient.

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