I work with some brilliant leaders who see solutions to issues long before their peers and directs and often before their bosses. Their acuity can make them become impatient and cranky when others don’t see what is obvious to them. When asked for clarification they claim they don’t have time to bring everyone along and they’ve already explained their thinking enough.
If this sounds like you, your choice is to remain irritated or to help others — and promote buy-in for the solution — by connecting the dots for them.
There are many approaches to “dot connection,” and you can even skip some of the smaller dots sometimes. But the most successful method is to start where your team is and build their knowledge as you lead them to what is clear to you. A leader I know draws on his experience as a college teacher when he notices his associates aren’t following him. If he is in a meeting and his colleagues, like his students, are giving him blank stares, he goes to the white board and jots down what facts and assumptions everyone can agree on. He then moves them through his analysis, adding details as needed to connect the steps and arrive at his conclusion.
Using this approach, you can only move as fast as the slowest element in the group, which admittedly can be trying, but it does have some benefits. Getting everyone up to speed helps speed the progress of the whole. Secondly, if others are expected to implement your solution, having deeper understanding of it will make sure they can do so successfully. Lastly, sharing your knowledge builds strong relationships with associates.
Sometimes connecting the dots can’t be accomplished in one pass. Some people need more time to absorb the concepts and see the connections than can happen in a single meeting. One way I think of it is to consider how I would go about teaching the concept. How can I break the concept down into digestible parts? How should the parts be sequenced and how much time does it require? What elements of the problem do they need to understand to see the whole? What do they know and don’t know?
For some leaders, their big-picture focus conflicts with effective dot connection. If you are fixated on the big picture you may leave out dots that are necessary for others’ understanding. In that case, it may be better to ask someone closer to the issue to explain your analysis.
Taking the time to connect the dots is one way you can help people learn and grow while contributing to a successful outcome. Avoid frustration and harness that energy into creative techniques to help others learn.
For some leaders, their big-picture focus conflicts with effective dot connection. If you are fixated on the big picture you may leave out dots that are necessary for others’ understanding. In that case, it may be better to ask someone closer to the issue to explain your analysis.
Taking the time to connect the dots is one way you can help people learn and grow while contributing to a successful outcome. Avoid frustration and harness that energy into creative techniques to help others learn.