Why the quick fix is not always the best thing for your team

Some examples below:

• How are you?
• What’s troubling you?
• Tell me more? (this is a great coaching question to use to get more information)

Once you have connected with the person, move to the issue/problem that needs to be addressed. Again some coaching questions can help here. Below are some examples of open questions to use:

What’s important for me to know?

• What is the key issue?
• Where are we at?
• How does it look?
• What’s your recommendation? (If they say they “I don’t know”, ask them what if you did? It’s amazing how someone can go from “I don’t know” to a creative solution)
• What else?
• How can I help?
• What is the impact of this situation?
• What else do I need to know?

From here move to action/accountability; depending on the situation you may stay in a coaching mode or, if the situation requires it, you may be more directive in your approach. Below are some coaching questions that you can use:

• What’s the next step?
• What actions are needed? (be specific)
• How will you report back to me?
• By when? (Establish a clear timeline on actions and how they will be reported back to you and who will report them back. Be clear – by when, means, time and date)
• What will you do if you are struggling?

An investment in developing some coaching skills to add a coaching approach to managing and leading your team will be one that will help to address your issue around going into fix it mode, however, there is some work to do.

Examine the underlying reason that is your default reaction to fix and solve: A few coaching questions for you to consider:

• What are you afraid of?
• What’s the worst that can happen?
• What if you trusted your team more?
• What’s the benefit of investing in this process?
• What’s really going on?

And remember, a coaching approach is only one style in your toolbox. Depending on the situation it may not be the right approach. It’s important to assess and to decide which approach you will use. I do encourage you to spend time investing in this process to see the benefits for yourself.

Bungay Stanier also adds that if it’s a process issue that comes up time and time again, it’s a real pain to have to keep explaining. Keeping a team “process journal” as an online document or wiki can be a time saver. When something needs to be done, have people write down how to do it step-by-step. Then, when a challenge comes up, the first thing to do is check the journal to see if it’s already been logged.

Good luck!

Pollyanna Lenkic is the founder of Perspectives Coaching, an Australian-based coaching and training company. In 1990, she co-founded a specialist IT recruitment consultancy in London, which grew to employ 18 people and turnover £11 million ($27 million). In this blog, Pollyanna answers questions from our readers on issues they are experiencing while leading or being part of a team. She offers insights on teams and team dynamics. For support and information on team days run by Perspectives Coaching see here.