While reviewing some SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) material for work, I came across this quote from Pater Block “It is misuse of our power to take responsibility for solving problems that belong to others.” At first, I thought, hey that’s a nice quote and maybe I should post it on my social media sites. Then as I kept thinking about it, I realized that there’s a lot to unpack here and it deserves to be a Trail Tip, as there are a lot of examples that can be pulled from this quote.
When leading a hike or just being a trail as part of a group, I try to always pack the: “ten essentials”, extra water, and plenty of food in case someone doesn’t pack what they need. However, the problems can start when someone starts to get used to me “solving problems that belong to others them)”, by always bringing extra water or food for them -just remember extra snickers doesn’t count here. Getting ready for hikes, I need to be more challenging to others by reminding them to start carrying everything they need for hikes and make it into a Trail Tip teaching moment.
In my personal life, there are examples that can be explored with family and friends. Here I think of the story of the “Prodigal Son” from the Bible. The father let the son go when he wanted to leave and while the father heard about the demise of the son; ending up working for a farmer, cleaning pig pens, the father never chased after him to solve his problems, but instead, stayed at home, keeping an eye open for his return. However, my tendency is to chase after family members and try to solve their problems or do their chores. I need to remember that while painful to watch, it does not solve problems for them by throwing money at them or doing their areas of responsibilities while living at home. We so often want the quick fix instead of the longer painful journey. My neighbor was helping me replace the brakes on our van few years ago, which also involved repacking the wheel bearings. Oh, how I wanted him to do this part for me. But no, he just stood there saying nothing as I worked in the new grease that pushed the old gritty grease out. More than once, I would look at him, looking for a sign I was finished, but he shook his head sideways, signaling there was more to do. It took more patience and time, than I wanted to spend on it, but once done, the feeling of personal accomplishment was huge.
At work, it’s that same balance of me taking the time to go through the process to learn something new to fix my problem, versus going to someone who knows the answer to get the quick solution. On the flip side, when someone comes to me with a problem that I know the answer to, my tendency is to say, “give me your keyboard and mouse, so I can fix the problem right away for you.” Where is the learning for the person who had the initial problem? Another good work example for me is when we are starting a project and we need to estimate the effort to get the work done. Development estimates should be done by the developers who are doing the work. So as the team leader, I need to be quiet and let them work through the estimates, versus me offering advice that isn’t even relevant.
We are living more and more in a world where we want the quick fix. Why take the time to figure something out and learn something new, when we can go to an “expert”, who is willing to give us that answer we need. And as someone who has the power and expertise in a given area, we need to guard against readily solving problems for others. Yes, we can help coach them, but it is not our responsibility to solve their problems for them.
This and other “Trail Tips” can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfredandersen and www.alandersen.co
Also, a collection of my first 101 tips have been published in a book and is available at Amazon or you can contact me to get an autographed copy of the book.
Al Andersen 