If Your Business Can’t Function Without You, Read This

A lot of SME owners I’ve been speaking to have been sharing how busy they are, how their people always look to them for answers and how when they try to step away everything falls apart. If this sounds familiar, please know that you are not alone (and you're in the right place!)

I want to be clear and say upfront that I don’t have a magic wand to make it all better (just know that if I could I would) and while some people would promise you the world, I’m going to be honest with you. Moving from where you are now is going to take time, effort and commitment from you - so why not start today!

I’m going to give you one simple thing you can implement immediately.

Ask. More. Questions.

When someone comes to you with a question, how quickly do you provide the answer?

If you answered immediately, I’m willing to bet that you get asked a lot of questions.

What you’re experiencing is what I like to call learnt behaviour.

They come to you with a question.

You answer the question.

Repeat. Hundreds of times.

Now I’m betting that you might be thinking – “oh but it’s so much easier to give them the answer” or maybe even “I haven’t got the time to waste on waiting for them to come up with the answer” or you might even be thinking “they don’t know the answer”.

Let’s just all agree that you’re wrong. Ok, well yes, there will be things they genuinely don’t know, but that doesn’t really matter.

Now I want you to imagine that your business grows by 50% over the next 12 months. Sounds great, right? Well, if you don’t change your approach, you’re going to be answering 50% more questions. How excited do you feel about that? I’m guessing not very (if this does excite you, please get in touch as I’d love to understand you).

So, let’s assume for most people, you want to reduce the number of questions you are asked daily, so that you can free up time to focus on other stuff.

All you have to do is one thing.

Next time someone comes to you with a question, rather than answering. I want you to respond with one of the following:

• “What do you think?”

• “How would you approach it?”

• “What options have you considered?”

• “What would you do if I wasn’t here?”

• “Talk me through your thinking.”

and then I want you to wait.

Now I imagine they might initially be a bit like a deer in headlights; this is especially true if you’ve spent a long time answering their questions.

Then it will likely go one of two ways:

They give you the right answer – this is great – not only have you avoided answering their question, but you’ve taught them that they can answer their own questions. Woohoo!

They don’t know the answer - that’s fine too - you’ve done something important and that is giving them the chance to think for themselves.

Now this is a process and change is not going to happen overnight, but if you commit to this, I guarantee you that by this time next month, you will see the number of questions you’re asked on a daily basis go down. You'll be a better leader. You'll also see your people grow in confidence because they will feel trusted and empowered. It really is a win-win.

So what are you waiting for - go ask good questions and reclaim your time!

If you try this out, please drop me a message on LinkedIn and tell me how you get on – I’d really love to know!

And if you’re curious about how I help SME owners create businesses that don’t rely on them for every decision, send me an email - I’d love to chat.