The Power of the Pause: Shifting from Fixer to Facilitator
In moments of challenge, whether you’re helping a team member, parenting, or managing a critical project, your first instinct when someone presents a problem is often to provide the solution immediately. We want to be helpful, efficient, and perhaps even demonstrate our expertise. But is that the best coaching leadership technique?
However, reacting with an immediate fix, even a brilliant one, is a missed opportunity for coaching and development. It fosters dependency, stifles creativity, and teaches people that your job is to solve their problems, rather than their job being to grow and learn through the challenge.
The Core Principle: A Simple Yet Profound Shift
The most effective leaders, mentors, and parents understand that the best response isn’t to give the answer, but to spark the thinking. When someone comes to you with an issue, the most impactful and developmental reaction is a simple, open question:
“What do you suggest?”
Or perhaps: “What do you think our next step should be?”
This shift from delivering a solution to asking a question is the cornerstone of great leadership. It sends a clear message: I trust your ability to think.
Coaching Leadership: Stop Micromanaging, Start Developing
Why is this simple pause so transformative?
- It Builds Capability: By requiring the person to analyze the situation and formulate a plan, you are actively developing their problem-solving muscle.
- It Increases Ownership: People are far more committed to solutions they have designed themselves.
- It Reveals Deeper Insights: Sometimes, the person already has a fantastic solution but just needs validation. Your question gives them the space to voice it.
Ultimately, true leadership isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about empowering others to find their own.
Applying This to Sales Leadership
Have your team members become dependent on you for every issue? Are you really helping them grow, or are you making them more dependent while believing you’re helping?
I have used this simple leadership habit for years with high-performing sales teams. Instead of saying, “Here’s what you should do to save this deal,” I start with that one golden question: “What do you suggest?”
That’s it. You can still guide the final decision, but only after they’ve thought it through. This way, every question becomes a coaching moment, not just another request for an answer.
When you implement this, you will see three changes immediately:
- Reduced Upward Delegation: It forces your team members to think instead of delegating decisions upwards to you.
- Better Qualification: It lets you “qualify” your own team. You will quickly see their judgment, risk appetite, and deal strategy. Do they truly understand the reasons behind your company’s rules, policies, and best practices?
- True Collaboration: It turns coaching into a partnership instead of top-down instruction.
Coaching Leadership with MEDDPICC® and Infinite Sales®
This approach is where The Infinite Sales® Leadership courses, combined with qualification habits learned in MEDDIC / MEDDPICC®, truly shine. It isn’t just about deal reviews; it is about how leaders develop independent, thinking sellers.
Try it this week. The next time a rep asks, “What should I do?”, pause and say:
“Before I tell you what I’d do… what do YOU suggest? What are the pros and cons of that approach?”
If you want to go deeper into these strategies, you can find more resources at infinite-sales.com and in the Infinite Sales® Leadership course at MEDDIC Academy.