How Do I Stop Solving Everyone’s Problems?

Straight to the Point

• The 1-3-1: your team brings you one problem, three potential solutions, and one recommendation.
• Your job is to coach. Understand their thinking and make sure you’re aligned.
• Once you’re aligned, thank them and let them go solve it.
• Being the answer dispenser makes you the bottleneck and stops your team from thinking for themselves.
• It builds confidence, accountability, and ownership — theirs and yours.

“I don’t want problems, I want solutions.”

I remember hearing a CEO bellow this at his team. Everyone looked at him blankly.

He had always been the problem-solver. If you had a problem, you brought it to him. Period. That was a trap he created for himself.

Why Do Leaders Become the Bottleneck?

Years of rescuing his team stopped them from thinking for themselves. It made him the bottleneck, and that burden was killing him.

Then one day his coach (not me) told him to stop being an answer dispenser. He didn’t know how.

If you’re like most of my clients, you’ve been in this situation a little more than you’d like to admit.

What Is the 1-3-1?

The 1-3-1 is a simple framework I teach to break the habit of solving everyone’s problems. They bring you:

• One problem
• Three potential solutions
• One recommendation

How Do You Use the 1-3-1?

Your job is to act as a coach. Understand their thinking and make sure you’re aligned. When you are, thank them and let them go solve the problem for themselves.

Why Does the 1-3-1 Work?

It builds confidence, yours and theirs. It helps your team develop accountability and ownership.

Give it a try. Once you get good at it, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without the 1-3-1.