I recently caught myself speaking and wondered who I was. When confronted with a decision I told a member of my leadership team, “You make the call, I trust you implicitly, let me know how it goes and if I can help.” I am a director by temperament; I have always wanted the option of the final decision. This was not me.
When did this happen? That was actually rhetorical, I know when it happened. It was an outcome of coach training. While learning the skill set used by coaches I became aware that if I trust others I may get a better result. Better in that the person making the decision owns it (the decision) and the outcome, better because trust is an emotional deposit and I may need to make a withdrawal later, better because it acknowledges that I don’t have all the answers, I could continue but by now you get the picture.
I like the level of trust that implementing these skills have produced in our team; so much so that we are all learning together how to help create awareness, design actions, plan and set goals and manage progress through active listening, powerful questioning, direct communication and the establishing of a trusting relationship.