Sometimes asking, “what do you think” can feel unsafe to your people. They might be wondering if the boss is trying to expose a weakness or set them up for later blame if things don’t go well.
If your people are hesitant to share what they think, try “what do you see? or, tell me about this.” This allows your team to share information without worrying if they are right or wrong.
What we see, or how we perceive things can be different for each person on our teams. Making decisions with all the information improves the likelihood that we reach the best conclusions.
My leadership nudge to you this week is this:
If someone on your team is stuck between “tell me what to do” and “here’s what I think” try using “tell me about. . .”
It will make it safe for them to share what they know.
