When clients insist on working with you personally, the bottleneck is rarely about your team’s ability. It is about two separate problems: your team needs your method translated into real training, and your clients need a clear, confident message that your team delivers the same standard you do. Lia walks through the exact moves to solve both sides, from codifying your secret sauce to publicly edifying your team members in front of clients. This episode is most useful for founders, consultants, agency owners, and service-based business leaders who are stuck as the face of every client relationship.
This episode is part of the Delegation, Bottleneck & Getting Out of the Weeds series. Browse all episodes →
Mic drop moments
“…if it’s not truly safe to make a mistake, then why would we take a risk? And it is taking a risk to try to solve a problem. It is taking a risk to share an idea.”
“This is that moment of vulnerability where it’s on you to make it safe.”
“…the open ended question is one of the most powerful tools you have in your tool belt as a manager. Use it as often as you can because it gets someone thinking, Hey, I have the internal resources to solve this problem.”
“…when people feel like they are proactive and they can solve problems and they’re coming with solutions, that’s when you foster that ownership mindset.”
Episode highlights
Why your team keeps dropping problems on your lap
If your team members bring complaints, questions, and issues but stop short of proposing solutions, there is likely a gap in two things: explicit invitation and psychological safety. Lia frames this not as a team failure but as a setup problem. The fix is structural, not personal.
Step one: Put out the invitation
People default to waiting until someone tells them a new behavior is expected and welcome. If you have never explicitly said “I want you to bring ideas and solutions, not just problems,” your team may simply not know that is the expectation.
Practical moves: open a team meeting with “I want everyone’s ideas on the table,” create a dedicated Slack channel for suggestions, or state directly that proactivity is part of how you measure growth on your team. The format matters less than the clarity of the signal.
Step two: Use open-ended questions to keep the solution where it belongs
When a team member comes to you stuck, the instinct is to jump in with “here is what I would do.” Resist it. Ask instead: “What do you think you want to try?” or “What has worked for you in the past?” or “Where do you feel like you are getting stuck?”
Open-ended questions do several things at once. They keep accountability with the team member rather than transferring it to you. They signal that you believe the person has the internal resources to figure it out. And they build trust, because you are demonstrating genuine interest in how they think. As Lia puts it, this is one of the most powerful tools in a manager’s tool belt, and it is free to use as often as you want.
Step three: Make it safe to be wrong (this is the most important one)
No one will take the risk of proposing a solution if getting it wrong feels costly. Psychological safety is not a soft concept here. It is a direct lever on team performance.
How to build it in practice: host retrospectives after projects so mistakes get discussed openly rather than buried. Share your own missteps and the lessons you took from them. Run low-stakes brainstorms, pre-mortems, or stop-start-continue exercises where ideas can surface without immediate judgment attached.
How to respond when the idea is completely off base
This is the moment most leaders handle poorly. Someone shares an idea that would never work, and the manager’s reaction in that instant determines whether that person contributes again.
Lia is direct: do not shut it down. Say “okay, interesting, let’s talk through that” or “I can see where you came from with that, here are a couple of thoughts I have.” You are not endorsing the idea. You are keeping the person in the game.
If someone consistently brings ideas that miss the mark, use that pattern as an opening to get clearer on team values and priorities. Reframe rather than redirect. “We are really grounded in high-touch human connection, so let’s take another shot with that as our filter” is a far more useful response than a flat no.
What changes when your team owns problem solving
When people feel capable of solving problems proactively, ownership follows. That is when team members go out and drive results without needing to be pushed, when productivity and profitability move, and when you as the leader get your attention back on the bigger picture. Three steps: put out the invitation, ask open-ended questions, and make it safe to make mistakes.
Related episodes in this cluster
- Ep 233: Why you’re still the point person for everything (and how to fix it). Being stuck as the final decision-maker on everything is almost never a delegation problem. Before delegation can work, three things have to be in place: the right people, clarity on where you as the owner should focus, and simple systems that reduce noise. This episode is most useful for business owners and team leads who have already hired and communicated expectations but are still buried in the weeds.
- Ep 231: Why delegating keeps failing (and the shift that actually fixes it). Delegation fails when leaders dispatch tasks instead of handing off outcomes, keeping themselves as the bottleneck at every step. The fix is shifting from fetch-the-answer assignments to giving a team member ownership of a full result, with clear context, defined success, and agreed checkpoints. This episode is especially useful for leaders who know they should delegate more but still find everything coming back to them.
- Ep 225: How to stop being the bottleneck on every decision your team makes. When your team brings every decision to you for final sign-off, you are doing two jobs at once and your team is never building real ownership. Lia’s fix is to articulate your own decision-making process, then deliberately offload specific decisions with a simple communication system so you stay informed without staying in the weeds. This episode is especially useful for founders and team leads whose capable people are still waiting on them before moving forward.
- Ep 221: Clients keep asking for you by name. How do you hand off work without losing their trust?. When clients insist on working with you personally, the bottleneck is rarely about your team’s ability. It is about two separate problems: your team needs your method translated into real training, and your clients need a clear, confident message that your team delivers the same standard you do. Lia walks through the exact moves to solve both sides, from codifying your secret sauce to publicly edifying your team members in front of clients. This episode is most useful for founders, consultants, agency owners, and service-based business leaders who are stuck as the face of every client relationship.
Want to go deeper?
The Unstoppable Team. How to build a team that runs without you in the room.
Full transcript (click to expand)
This is that moment of vulnerability where it’s on you to make it safe. So even if the idea is something that’s terrible and you would never use that idea or, or agree with it or whatever. Just listening to it saying, okay, interesting, let’s talk through that. Or I can see where you’d come with that. And here’s a couple of thoughts I have. Welcome to the managing made simple podcast, where I bring a decade of experience working in some of the most influential companies in tech to help you navigate the ins and outs of being a people manager from conflicts to feedback to delegating and more.
We will leave no stone unturned when it comes to what makes us love managing, kinda hate it, and everything in between. Doesn’t matter if you’re a new manager looking for some tips, or a seasoned manager looking to up their game, everyone is welcome to hang out with Managing Made Simple. Let’s go. I know you’re here because you want to be a better manager, but I also know it’s often easier said than done. That’s why I put together a scorecard of 20 things that you can do this month and every month to show up better for your team as a manager.
From positive feedback, to recognition, to honoring those working norms that we know we gotta do but sometimes forget, this scorecard serves as a checklist and accountability buddy to remind you of all those things you gotta do to be a great manager. Download your copy today at liagarvin.com/scorecard. Welcome back to the show today, we are going to answer a question I have heard from business owners, managers in the corporate world, leaders of any variety, which is how do I get my team members to be more proactive with problem solving?
How do I not assume the role of answering all the questions, solving all the problems, making all the suggestions and how do I make a shift in my team? And this is something that shows up in any kind of team. I know for small business owners, it can feel like. Well, I feel like I’m the only one making the decisions around here. I feel like I’m the only one bringing creative ideas to the, to the table.
The only one really growing the business. And for larger teams or managers in the corporate world, I know sometimes you can feel like, well, I want my team members to step up. They bring a lot of complaints. They bring a lot of questions. They bring a lot of problems forward. But how do I make that shift where they know they can be bringing problems and solutions. They can bring you problems and ideas, and that is going to help them grow in their careers.
And you’re going to make the whole situation easier and better for everyone. So making this shift, this is what we’re going to talk about today. And when I thought about it, you know, I feel like there’s really three things that we have to do in order to make the shift. If people are coming to you and they’re just dropping a problem on your lap, or they’re waiting for someone else to solve it, or you see a lot of idea generation, but it kind of stops there.
Then it’s really important to do these three things because that means there’s a gap and people feeling like it’s safe to move forward and actually start solving the problems. The first thing I want to suggest you do is put out the invitation. Sometimes people just need to know that I want you to be solving problems. I want you to be bringing ideas forward. For example, let’s say you are managing a team and you’re significantly senior to those people.
So in the corporate world, maybe you’re VP or director level and you have a few entry level employees. There might be that power or hierarchy differential that might be causing people to not feel safe to come forward with ideas and solutions. So making the invitation saying, Hey, I want to run a team where everybody feels like they can bring ideas, bring solutions to the table. And here’s how to do that. Here’s the forms that is going to be really powerful.
In a smaller business, it might mean creating forums for people bringing ideas forward in a team meeting saying, Hey, I want to make sure we got everybody’s ideas on the table or creating a Slack channel where people put ideas out there, whatever it looks like. If we want to see a behavior change, we got to make sure people know that we’re expecting that. So putting out that invitation saying, Hey, I want to be seeing solutions and ideas and innovation and proactivity.
Saying that now people have the expectation set and now they can step into that role. Second thing we want to do is really lean into open ended questions. And this is a skill I talk a lot about with coaching, right? Using open ended questions like, how would you solve this? Or what do you think? And this is especially important if your team members come to you with problems, drop them on your lap and go, what do you think you should do?
Right? We want to make that shift. So when a team member comes to you and says, ah, I’m feeling really stuck. I can’t, I, you know, I keep not hearing back from my client or my stakeholder, or I’m having this problem with this colleague, really reining it in as that manager, not jumping in with here’s what you should try. Here’s what you should do. Or here’s what I would do. Slowing down, taking a pause. And asking an open ended question, for example, what do you think you might want to try?
What feels right as a next step? Well, what’s worked for you in the past? What do you think’s going on with the other person in the situation? Where do you feel like you’re getting stuck? All of these open ended questions, keep that solution in your team members court. Okay? This means you don’t have to put that monkey on your back. You are leaving with them. You’re offering support and you’re going to be there to have the conversation, but you are still showing them they are accountable to coming up with a solution and coming up with ideas.
Now, if they come up with an idea that’s like way out of left field, then you’re like, Oh, I don’t think so. Then you can say, well, let’s talk about what, what some of the benefits, you know, pros and cons to that are, but it’s still important that you’re leaving those solutions with them. And I got to say, the open ended question is one of the most powerful tools you have in your tool belt as a manager.
Use it as often as you can because it gets someone thinking, Hey, I have the internal resources to solve this problem. It reminds us I can do it. It shows your team members that you have faith in them, that you believe in them. It builds trust because you’re showing them, Hey, I want to hear how you would solve this. Tell me what you would do here. So it’s a really, really powerful tool for helping people step up and being proactive, be problem solvers, and generally for figuring things out and really owning that solution.
Third thing we got to do, and I’m going to tell you right now, this is the most important one. We have to make it safe to make mistakes. We have to make it safe to share an idea that never would work instead of just shooting it down saying, okay, well, let’s, again, discuss the merits of that and see what we might try. We have to make it safe for someone to bring an idea to the table.
Without feeling like, well, if I get it wrong, then no one’s going to listen to me next time. Or if I get it wrong, my evaluation’s at stake or whatever we think. Because if it’s not truly safe to make a mistake, then why would we take a risk? And it is taking a risk to try to solve a problem. It is taking a risk to share an idea. It is taking a risk to be proactive. So, how do we make it safe?
And now I will say, we talk a lot about psychological safety. That is what I’m talking about here. Making it safe to make mistakes, making it safe to share ideas, to be vulnerable without it being held against you. So this is really about psychological safety right now. How do we make it safe? We talk about mistakes openly and we learn from them. Maybe that looks like hosting a retrospective after a project, talking about what went well, what could have gone better, what we want to do differently next time.
As the leader in the company or in the team, you sharing the mistakes you’ve made or learnings that you’ve had is really, really valuable saying, Hey, when I started a project like this, here’s some of the pitfalls I ran into, or the lessons I learned, here’s some of the things that I’m doing differently, here’s some of the feedback that I’m actioning, that’s going to be making it safer to make mistakes. It also makes it safer to make mistakes when we get everybody’s ideas on the table.
And this can look like having brainstorms using kind of the design thinking framework or using exercises like stop, start, continue are really powerful. Getting ideas in the table in a low stakes environment, sometimes it’s called a pre mortem where you have a brainstorm about what could go wrong before a project so that everybody can share ideas when the stakes are low. These different forms are going to be really, really powerful to make it safer to share your ideas.
And again, when someone comes to you feeling stuck and they say, I have this problem and you say, you know, well, what do you think you want to try or what have you done in the past or what are you considering here? Whatever they share is that next idea. This is that moment of vulnerability where it’s on you to make it safe. So even if the idea is something that’s terrible and you would never use that idea or, or agree with it or whatever, just listening to it saying, okay, interesting.
Let’s talk through that. Or I can see where you’d come with that. And here’s a couple of thoughts I have. Not just shutting it down, even again, if you don’t agree with it, but the person that is sharing their idea is looking at you and your reaction. They’re coming to you in a moment of vulnerability, putting themselves out there with an idea, and they’re looking to you. Think of it as like, you know, kid on the baseball team looking to coach like, Hey, you gotta do a good job.
This person is watching your reaction and how you react or don’t react positively or negatively or neutrally or whatever it looks like. That’s going to inform how they contribute again next time. So we want to really show an openness and appreciation for ideas. And if you’re finding someone comes with solutions that are totally off base, time and again. Then that’s a great opportunity to talk about the team and company values. What are your broader priorities? What are kind of focuses of the work so that you’re scoping?
What are these solutions and ideas that you’re looking for? For example, let’s say you’re talking about how to improve, you know, client or customer experience in, in your team or company. And a team member is coming to you with ideas that really don’t relate to what you would want to try. For example, like you are really grounded in human experience. You really want face to face communication when possible. You believe in, you know, high touch customer service.
And someone comes with ideas like let’s automate everything and use and use AI and maybe switch it over to VR. And like, we don’t have to see anybody in person and you’re like, Whoa, Hey, you know, really cool, fun, futuristic ideas. And we really want to re anchor them to our team values of. human connection, you know, being in person, uh, you know, having that face to face contact, whatever it is. And then you say, Oh, okay.
Like, Hey, let’s take another shot. Now that we have these values, we’re all really aligned on where we’re going to kind of talk about when it comes to sharing ideas. So, again, it’s not about shutting down that idea. It’s about scoping it to, well, actually, let’s focus over here and then I’d love to hear really future thinking, cutting edge ideas that are grounded in this zone over here. And because we framed it that way, we’ve made it okay to share an idea that we’re not going to run with because we didn’t shut it down.
We didn’t make that person feel stupid or incompetent for suggesting it. We said, great, like all these ideas could be interesting. And the ones we’re going to move forward with are the ones that are more closely tied with our priorities or goals or values or vision. So this is how we create a team of problem solvers. People that are proactive, people that don’t just throw problems over the fence and expect you to solve everything. And I will tell you when people feel like they are proactive and they can solve problems and they’re coming with solutions, that’s when you foster that ownership mindset.
That’s when you have people out there in the field, growing your business, hating their metrics, driving great results, increasing your productivity, increasing profitability. This is how you get there. So this is something that is so, so important. And as you heard in this conversation, it’s not that hard to do. We want to put out that invitation. We want to use open ended questions to fuel ideas and we want to make it safe to make mistakes. See you next time.
That’s all I have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to the managing made simple podcast, where my goal is to demystify the job of people management so that together we can make the workplace somewhere everyone can thrive. I always love to hear from you, so please reach out at Liagarvin.com or message me on LinkedIn. See you next time.
Questions this episode answers
How do I get my team to stop bringing me every problem and start solving things themselves?
Start by putting out a clear invitation. Your team members may simply not know you expect them to bring solutions, not just problems. Tell them directly that you want everyone bringing ideas and solutions forward, and create the forums for that to happen, whether that's a standing agenda item in team meetings or a dedicated channel for ideas. Once people know what's expected, they can step into that role. The missing piece is usually the expectation, not the capability.
What questions should I ask when an employee comes to me stuck on a problem?
Instead of jumping in with what you would do, slow down and ask open-ended questions that keep the solution in their court. Try things like: What do you think you might want to try? What's worked for you in the past? Where do you feel like you're getting stuck? These questions signal that you have faith in them to figure it out, build trust, and remind them they have the internal resources to solve the problem. It also means you don't end up carrying every problem on your back.
How do I make it safe for my team to share ideas without fear of being shut down?
When someone shares an idea, even a bad one, your reaction in that moment sets the tone for whether they'll ever share again. Instead of shutting it down, say something like 'okay, interesting, let's talk through that' or 'I can see where you're coming from, here are a couple of thoughts I have.' You can also share your own mistakes and lessons openly, run low-stakes brainstorms, or do a pre-mortem before a project. The goal is psychological safety: people need to know that taking a risk with an idea won't be held against them.
What do I do when a team member keeps bringing ideas that are totally off base?
Use it as an opportunity to anchor them back to team values and priorities rather than making them feel wrong for suggesting it. For example, if your business is built on high-touch human connection and someone keeps pitching full automation, you don't shut it down. You say something like, those are interesting ideas and we really want to stay grounded in our value of face-to-face connection. Now with that in mind, what ideas do you have? That way you scope what you're looking for without making the person feel incompetent for trying.
Why does building a proactive team matter for business results?
When people feel capable of solving problems and bringing ideas forward, they develop an ownership mindset. They stop waiting to be told what to do and start acting like they have a real stake in the outcome. That shift is what drives better metrics, stronger productivity, and real business growth. The three things that get you there are setting a clear invitation for proactivity, using open-ended questions to keep solutions with your team, and making it genuinely safe to make mistakes and share ideas.