People Are More Capable Than We Think

Summary

• Empower your team members by giving them room to solve problems on their own; people are more capable than we might initially believe.
• Refrain from always stepping in to solve problems; doing so can deprive team members of valuable growth opportunities.
• Trust in your team's abilities, and resist the impulse to take over tasks because it might impede their development.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest starting by showing trust in your team. Let them handle challenges without immediately jumping in. When you do this, they learn more and get better at their jobs. Here's a plan to empower your team:

1. Pick a small problem that comes up and instead of fixing it yourself, ask a team member to try solving it. Give them a chance and see how they do.
2. Don't just watch them work on it. Do your own work and check in later. That shows you really trust them.
3. If they solve it, great! Make sure to tell them they did a good job. This will make them feel good and want to solve more problems in the future.
4. If they can't solve it, it's okay. Don't fix it for them right away. Instead, talk with them about different ways they might try to fix it. Help them think of ideas.
5. Do this more and more, with bigger problems each time. Your team will get used to it and get better at fixing things on their own.

Remember, every time you don't step in right away, you're giving someone a chance to grow. Plus, it frees up your time to do other important stuff for the business or for yourself! Start with the small things and work up from there. Your team will surprise you with what they can do. And your business or personal growth will benefit from everyone getting better at solving problems.

Quotes by Leila Hormozi

"People are much more capable than we give them credit"

– Leila Hormozi

"If they are trained to do what you say and not solve problems, they won't even think"

– Leila Hormozi

"They will just default to giving you the problems because they're like oh I don't think he wants me to solve them"

– Leila Hormozi

"Not that I'm not capable, but I don't think he wants me to"

– Leila Hormozi

"Every time you solve a problem for somebody on your team, you are taking that opportunity from somebody who maybe hasn't solved that problem before"

– Leila Hormozi

Full Transcript

people are much more capable than we give them credit especially when you're in the beginning and you have people working for you they do what they are trained to do if they are trained to do what you say and not solve problems they won't even think they will just default to giving you the problems because they're like oh I don't think he wants me to solve them not that I'm not capable but I don't think he wants me to or maybe they think you don't think they're capable because every time you solve a problem for somebody on your team you are taking that opportunity from somebody who maybe hasn't solved that problem before but if they did they would be better for it I always have to remind myself of that because there's like a compulsion to go solve the problem because you're like that's my job right and like the thing is is what