Your instinct as a first-time manager is to tell people what to do. It’s not asking versus telling, it is telling versus asking.
After all, you’re in charge, and that’s what bosses do.
Or not.
Telling works great in fire drills, emergency rooms, and battlefield situations. In most other settings, asking is your go-to approach.
It’s easy to bark orders. Instead of wasting your valuable time explaining, you point and command. Telling is a go-to tactic for many managers.
It’s a lousy tactic.
Telling versus asking is the height of laziness and a profoundly powerful way to show how little you care for or respect the people you are responsible for as a manager. Share on XTelling minimizes time-wasting dialog. It optimizes compliance. It reduces variation.
After all, you’re in charge.
Asking versus telling takes time. It requires you to provide context. It only works if you’ve invested time in training and teaching.
Questions are powerful teaching tools.
Asking introduces variation. Some call that creativity or innovation.
But most of all, asking shows respect. It indicates that you care about their opinions. You value their ideas, and you want them to think independently.
It reinforces the idea that people can think and act for themselves and not wait for you to signal the next step.
And importantly, asking requires that you listen.
Listening is another form of showing respect.
When you ask, you are faced with options and approaches that don’t match your ideas. The hard part is acknowledging these different ideas might be better than yours.
Ask, watch, and learn.
After all, you are in charge. You’re in charge of teaching, listening, supporting, and helping. You will learn along the way.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Quit telling and start asking.
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Are you a new or first-time manager, or, a manager of managers? Check out the First-Time Manager Mentoring programs from Art Petty.
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