January 18, 2021

Hold your own spoon

Man spoon feeding a toddler

Oh no! Not again 🙁

Another question from someone who could have figured it out for themselves and instead they come and ask me.

I inwardly sigh and give them the answer… again.

I’ll be honest, it does give my ego a boost, but there must be a better way.

Sometimes they need my expertise. I get that. But all the other times, maybe I am spoon-feeding them too much? Maybe asking me is too easy? Maybe they need to learn to hold their own spoon? Or maybe the consequences of them making a mistake are too high, so they need reassurance or protection? Maybe they think I am micro-managing and that I need to be in the loop? Maybe it’s something else?

I wonder what it is that encourages this behaviour?

The next time I will ask them…
“What do think the answer is?”
“How could you find this out for yourself?”
“Have you looked on the XYZ system?”
“Why ask me when the answer is available on the XYZ system?”
“What will you do the next time you have a similar question?”

I am curious to find out what answers I get!

My best wishes, Paul

Paul Matthews

CEO and Founder of People Alchemy

share this article:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

related posts

Female graduate student at a podium giving a speech

If you were to give a speech

If you were to give such a commencement speech to ten thousand people about to start their adult lives, what would you say?

Read More
faint background a woman smiling. Overlaid in blue a stick woman walking up steps towards a flag at the top

Get visibility of what line managers are doing post training

Following training the attitude and input from the line managers of the delegates is pivotal in determining if they are able to operationalise what they learned.

Read More
An illustration of the animals on noah's ark

Are you a manager or a leader?

Is the whole leadership vs. management thing a red herring? Consider your own situation…

Read More
Cartoon coach shouting through megaphone at four students running up a performance graph arrow

Introduce another player to the trainee/manager relationship

After delivering training you want to see behaviour change. The trainee may want to discuss this outside their line relationship. Introduce another player…

Read More

search blog

Get your free weekly tip

You agree that we can keep a record of your details, and send you other occasional offers. See our Privacy Policy