What does it look like to have a team with a lower critical thinking baseline?
- You as a manager, team lead, or leader are making all the decisions.
- During a crisis, you find yourself at the epicenter with no actions taken until you prescribe them.
- The team does not act to solve problems, big or small, proactively.
- The team waits for you to tell them what they need in order to get something done.
- You give someone a clear goal with a well-defined end state, and you need to hand-hold through the process.
- You are getting questions on everything that your team should be able to answer.
The problem with these symptoms is they signal your team needs some development. This list is non-exhaustive; it’s just a small list of things I’ve seen through the years. My assumption in this blog is that you have given your team the autonomy, resources, and technical training needed to achieve their job, and you understand why team autonomy and distributed power are important. If this is news to you, I’ll link some writing on this topic below in the future. In the meantime, I would recommend Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin (Willink and Babin, 2015). There aren’t other books I’m aware of that really portray why distributed decision-making is so important as well as Extreme Ownership. It’s a must-read on “Dan’s List” of books for leadership.
Critical thinking is necessary for distributed initiative and power because your team must be able to take the vision you’ve outlined, look at the problems in front of them, and bridge the gap from start to end. High critical thinking, paired with your support as a leader toward their autonomy, is a recipe for a high-performing team.
Remember, your goal as a leader is to not be needed.
How do we train critical thinking on a team?
I recently got a puppy—a fluffy, energetic “land shark” named Barnabas. Barnabas likes socks, sprinting in the backyard, and licking the ears of his patient older sister, Sage, a 7-year-old pit-mix. I’ve been reading books on dog training, and I want to share some theory and how it applies to how we train critical thinking. The fundamentals of behavioral conditioning apply across almost all animals.
One of Barnabas’s habits is sprinting to the back door and barking. He wants to go outside. If I go let him out when he approaches the back door with high energy, what does Barnabas learn? He learns that if he goes to the back door like a maniac on a mission, he gets to go outside. To retrain Barnabas, I only touch the door if he’s in a sit. If he stands up before I say “okay,” I shut the door and we start over.
It’s taken a few weeks, and I’m not a perfect dog trainer, but Barnabas is still a puppy. With that, he now sits at the door when he wants (or needs) to go outside. It’s a marked change in the energy of the house.
What changed? I stopped letting him get what he wants the way he’s used to, making it clear it’s his responsibility to control his state if he wants to go outside. I reward the good behavior and ignore the undesired actions. Guess what? This wisdom applies to all relationships, not just with man’s best friend.
Stop answering questions you want your team to know the answers to
When your team brings you a question you think they should be able to answer, don’t answer it. It’s really that simple. No need to be a jerk, either. Give guidance. Instead of answering, try some of these thought-provokers:
“How could you find the answer?”
“Who on another team could teach you how to figure this out?”
“What would your first Google search be to try and research this?”
You need to be kind and encouraging when you do this. If you regularly get mistaken for sarcastic or intense, make sure you validate the act of asking:
“Hey, nice job trying to figure this out. If I were gone today, how do you think you could figure that out?”
“That’s a good question, and I don’t know the answer either. I think you should be able to find an answer, and you can probably get it before I can. Do you have any ideas on where to start the hunt?”
Follow up with support:
“Hey, did you ever find the answer to your question?”
“I thought your plan was pretty good; did you get what you needed?”
Be their helper, not their answer; be the belay rope, not the ice pick.
“How can I help you figure this out?”
“They didn’t respond to your email asking for help? CC me and I’ll follow up with them.”
Let them come up with the plan
The team has a problem, a situation, or a project, and someone asks, “What should we do?” This is a golden opportunity as a manager to instill a culture of trust, to empower your team to take charge, and to help them grow as leaders. Seize this opportunity by not giving an answer, but by guiding their thinking process.
Use any of these:
“Okay, I understand the situation. What do you think we should do?”
“I think you’re the expert on XYZ; what would be your recommended plan?”
“This is a tricky situation because of [insert stakeholder difficulty]. How would you solve the problem, and what do you want to say to the stakeholder?”
Your job is to understand what’s going on and set the stage, then leave the plan up to your team. If the plan or direction they have isn’t great but it would work, let them go forward. My rule is to only intervene for safety concerns or for plans that might negatively impact their careers. Otherwise, them learning the lesson by touching the proverbial stove is exceptionally more valuable than telling them, “Hey, the stove is hot, don’t touch it.”
Your team is likely better at what they are doing than you are. Let them do things the way they think they need to be done. If you get in their way, they will resent you and leave you. Don’t be that boss. Trust them. If their plan lacks elements that need to be there for success, prompt them to consider the bigger picture:
“Your plan is solid. One thing I noticed is Becky from accounting usually needs X to do Y. Is there a way you could consider this in your plan?”
“This is a solid plan; I support it. Before you start, can you fill me in on how you’ll manage the safety risks of using X in the Y room?”
Model your thinking for the tougher problems
When things get stickier, more complicated, and begin to involve more teams or external stakeholders, I still maintain this is a great opportunity to let your team shine. However, they may need more of your support to be set up for success. Walk through a problem with your team to explain how you would think about it, find the gaps in their knowledge, and support them in learning what you know.
“Great plan so far. Here are some elements I might consider. Let’s go through them together.”
You’re still their support team as they lead the solution. Walking the line between back-seat driving and empowering them to make a working decision is a fine line, and one that shifts with the person and the situation. Don’t be afraid to invest the time and patience needed to coach your team to be able to tackle these harder problems.
Shifting culture from ‘problem escalation’ to ‘solution escalation’
This is something I’m working on trying to perfect, and I believe it takes time and a team that’s ready for it. We’ve all heard the advice, “Don’t take problems to your boss, take solutions.” This advice isn’t bad, but it also depends a lot on the situation you’re in and the boss you have.
As a leader, you have a lot more influence over people bringing you solutions than they do. It is very easy as a leader to resent your team for not bringing you solutions, but it is very difficult to diagnose that you are creating a culture where bringing solutions is not rewarded.
You can encourage critical thinking and problem-solving by exercising supportive and positive reactions when people bring you solutions and display critical thinking. If you follow the steps of modeling and guiding, and your team starts to exercise independent judgment, then all you need to do is blow on the embers. If they bring you a problem, slow things down, listen with empathy, and help them work through a solution.
Be the safety net
Don’t give your team a problem to solve and then disappear. If something goes wrong, take ownership of the problem like a good leader and prove to your team that it is safe to fail. Failure safety is the last piece of the puzzle, and it makes all the points before this work (Edmondson, 1999). The team needs to feel like they can fail and that they will be able to learn and come back better next time. Encourage responsible risk-taking and allow room for diagnosis and reflection when things go south.
Let them in on your philosophy
Relying solely on mirroring questions to deflect responsibility is a quick way to build team frustration. I was on the phone with my mom describing this process and she said, “Do they just want to hit ya? Haha!” The easiest way to get people on board with this style of leadership is to explain exactly why you are doing it.
“Team, this is a good problem to ponder together. Nice work bringing it to me. For context, I think my job as a leader is to not be needed. So I want to talk about the problem in a way where you can try and solve it and I’ll be here by your side if you need anything. Deal?”
Let them into your thinking. Use your communication tools to explain where your head is at and give people a heads-up on what’s coming. Maybe even give public kudos to anyone who’s solved some problems recently. The moral here is that when you talk to your team, you shouldn’t be a mysterious, shrouded mystic; you’re here to support them. Ask them if they are on board with your plan!
Hopefully, they are on board.
Cheers,
Dan
References
Edmondson, Amy. “Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams.” Administrative Science Quarterly 44, no. 2 (1999): 350-83.
Willink, Jocko, and Leif Babin. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.