Ask Coach: How Do I Empower My Team To Solve Problems? (Part 3)

By Rich Anderson, executive coach with HTG Peer Groups

Q: How do I empower my team to make decisions on their own, look at the whole picture of the problem, and bring it to resolution?

Coach:  Today I am going to continue my answer to this good question from Competent Eddie the Owner, whom I call C.E.O. for short, by taking a look at the American childhood television icon, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, and see what sound business conclusions we can draw. If you want to catch up on our walk down memory lane, read about the iconic characters I referenced in the first two parts of this answer: Mighty Mouse and Carnac the Magnificent.

Icon 3: Be Like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

(You might also title this “Have You Clearly Defined the Box?”)

“Who are the people in your neighborhood…the people that you meet each day?”  You may remember the slow, steady pace of Mr. Rogers.  You may remember his neighbors, like Mr. McFeeley “Speedy Delivery” and Handyman Negri.  In that steady environment each neighbor had a specific role to play that was well-defined.  They knew their defined boundaries, executed within those boundaries, and the neighborhood was steady and it flourished. Why? What happens when we live chaotic, rushed lives, where clear and defined boundaries don’t exist?      

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