Stop Being the Person With All the Answers

If you're the person in your firm who always has the answer, it can feel like you're being a good leader. Someone asks a question. You know the answer. You give it to them. Problem solved. But there's a problem with that. What has your team member actually learned? In this episode of Advisory Secrets, I talk about why developing an advisory team sometimes means resisting the temptation to be the person with all the answers. Because if every difficult question still comes back to you, you've created exactly the dependency you're trying to move away from. Instead of immediately giving someone the solution, try asking: "What do you think?" "What have you noticed?" "What options do you see?" "What else would you want to know before making a recommendation?" Now you're not simply solving the problem. You're helping someone else develop the judgement to solve similar problems themselves in the future. And that's an important part of advisory. Your team won't always know the answer immediately — and that's okay. Neither will you. Good advisory isn't about knowing everything. It's about knowing how to think, question, investigate and use the information available to reach a considered conclusion. We also need to create an environment where people feel comfortable saying: "I don't know yet, but I'll find out." Because that's much better than someone feeling they need to pretend they know. As leaders, this requires a shift for us too. We move from being the person who solves every problem... to the person who helps other people become better problem-solvers. And over time, something starts to change. Fewer questions automatically come back to you. Your team becomes more confident in their own judgement. They start bringing you possible solutions rather than simply problems. And advisory knowledge begins to spread across the firm. That's how we start moving from one expert to a genuinely capable advisory team. Takeaways Being the person with all the answers can unintentionally create dependency. If every difficult question still comes back to you, you may still be the bottleneck. Instead of immediately providing the answer, ask your team what they think first. Questions such as "What have you noticed?" and "What options do you see?" help develop judgement. Good advisory isn't about knowing everything — it's about knowing how to think through a situation. Team members need to feel comfortable saying "I don't know yet" without feeling they've failed. Encourage people to bring you their thoughts and possible solutions, not just the problem. Advisory leadership means gradually moving from problem-solver to coach. The goal isn't for you to become less knowledgeable. It's for your team to become more capable. Find Out More If you'd like to develop advisory capability across your own team, visit APX Training. You can also join our free Advisory Teams Facebook community. And for longer-form discussions around advisory, search for Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday on your usual podcast platform.