Being the Epicenter of Problem Solving is the Problem
When you start a company, problems pop up and you fix them. As entrepreneurs, it’s in our nature. As your company grows and you hire staff, they see how good you are at solving problems and they become excellent at handing problems over to you to fix.
This works well, until it doesn’t. Being the epicenter of problem solving is the serious problem you need to fix.
Here’s what I did to turn things around when I realized the damage I was creating, and it was a simple fix. When a staff member came into my office to hand me a problem, I asked them to come back after thinking of a couple of solutions. When they came back with both a problem and proposed solutions, we’d have a discussion. We’d weigh the pros and cons and come to a decision on the best path forward. Then I’d ask them to take care of it. Pretty soon, staff was coming into my office telling me about all the problems they’d already solved. I gave them the power and they used it.
In the beginning, I struggled losing my role as Chief Problem Solver, bit of a bruise to my ego. But the more I trusted my staff, the more problems they solved, the more we thrived, turning my bruised ego into immense pride.
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