[Alicia Davis] As a leader, if you find yourself giving advice or being asked for advice, we want to share a couple of thoughts about that with you today, don’t we? Stacie?

[Stacie Watson] Yes, you know, it makes perfect sense when we are in a leadership role that people on our team, maybe colleagues, will come to us and ask for advice and guidance. And of course, part of our job is to offer that right I mean, we get into these roles because we know things and it makes perfect sense. And what we sometimes find is that the habit of sort of being very quick to give advice or to offer solutions can sometimes get in the way from a staff development perspective. And it’s an interesting conundrum I feel like as a leader.

[Alicia Davis] Well, right. And for the leader themselves, it can also lead to a little bit of sometimes overwhelm, because then you’ve got a staff and people coming to you asking questions and advice… and advice all the time, as opposed to being a little bit more autonomous and answering their own questions. Right?

[Stacie Watson] Right.

[Alicia Davis] And we wanted to share – there’s this really fantastic book that Michael Bungay Stanier wrote. He’s an executive coach, called the Advice Trap. And we just love this quote, don’t we Stacie?

[Stacie Watson] We, we do.

[Alicia Davis] So here’s here’s an excerpt. So, you know Lucy from Snoopy, right, cartoon, “it turns out that being more coach-like and staying curious a little longer is harder than most of us thought. No matter our good intentions, we love to give advice. We love it. As soon as someone starts talking, our plan to be curious goes out the door, and our advice monster looms out of our subconscious, rubbing its hands, and declaring ‘I’m about to add some value to this conversation. Yes, I am.'” So, Stacie, what does being more coach-like really mean? And how can that help?

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, you know, I love that quote so much, and I think we can all relate to it in one way or another. And I think one of the things that he references in that quote is the idea of being curious.

[Alicia Davis] Yeah.

[Stacie Watson] And I think as a leader, as a manager, it’s helpful just to even have that word, you know, pasted on our computer because the ability to stay in a space of curiosity is what can help us remember, instead of just jumping in with advice or solutions, to try and ask one or two more questions. Right? Just give that person a little bit more opportunity to kind of consider their own solutions and think about the direction they might set. Then you can give feedback on their thoughts, which is very different than just giving them the thought, you know, your own thought. And so perhaps that could be our sort of gentle challenge for all of the leaders and managers listening, right?

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. So, if you’re listening to this, and the next time somebody comes to you, maybe pause before you give your answer and ask one or two open-ended, curious questions, and see what happens. And if you want to learn more about this skill, we have “Being A Coach Like Leader” coming up in our Learning Academy on July 23rd. So you can check that out, too. So, I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] And we are the founders and co-owners of Transformative Leadership Strategies and the Learning Academy, and you can check it out at Academy.TLStransforms.com. Thanks so much, and be curious!

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.