Laziness: A Useful Leadership Strategy

Laziness? Isn’t it part of a leader’s job to help their team?

Sure.

And I’ve spoken with dozens of leaders who have been so helpful that they’ve created unhelpful dependencies.

I hear things like:

“My team comes to me with every challenge or conflict”

“I wish they were more confident and would solve problems on their own”

“I can’t take time off; I don’t trust them to handle things without me”

If this sounds like something you’ve said or thought about recently, you are not alone.

I am also guilty of being too helpful at times.

When my clients come to me with their challenges, I have been known to jump in with solutions and advice. It’s a natural response. And sometimes I even give good advice (They probably wouldn’t keep coming back if it was terrible!). But while providing solutions or advice might be helpful in the short term, it can be detrimental in the long term.

Advice can reinforce them to trust my judgement rather than their own.

So, to be more helpful, I had to learn to be a “lazy” coach. What does that mean?

Laziness as a leadership strategy means replacing great advice with great questions.

Trying to resist the urge to give advice felt uncomfortable at first. It’s very alluring to break tension, confusion, or frustration with an answer. And the relief I feel in the moment convinces me that I’ve just been helpful. But by breaking the tension, I am also sacrificing the benefits that could come out of it.

Asking a great question in a moment of tension can spark creativity, which will likely produce better solutions with more ownership. And in the long run, this cultivates resilience and confidence in your team which can free you up to focus on your best work. And that’s helpful for everyone. This doesn’t mean you can never give advice again; you’re simply moving away from “advice-giving” as a default leadership strategy.

If you want to explore how to ask better questions, no one does it better than award-winning coach and Rhodes Scholar, Michael Bungay Stanier! He is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his best-seller, “The Coaching Habit” in which he offers seven powerful questions that you can ask to change the way to lead.

Grab a copy and be sure to check out my personal favourite - “The Lazy Question”!