<h2 id="elizabeth-lotardo-stop-solving-your-team’s-problems-for-them">Elizabeth Lotardo: Stop Solving Your Team’s Problems for Them</h2>
<p>Elizabeth Lotardo is a consultant, writer, and online instructor who helps organizations drive emotional engagement. Elizabeth writes for <em>Harvard Business Review,</em> is a Top Voice on LinkedIn, and the author of <em>Leading Yourself: Find More Joy, Meaning, and Opportunities in the Job You Already Have.</em> She’s also the author of the <em>Harvard Business Review</em> article, <em>Stop Solving Your Team’s Problems for Them.</em></p>
<p>Jumping in to solve problems feels like we’re doing important work. The issue is that leaders need to be enabling work – both for scale and to grow the skills of others. In this conversation, Elizabeth and I detailed how to get out of the trap of solving your team’s problems for them.</p>
<h3 id="key-points">Key Points</h3>
<ul>
<li>Jumping in to solve a problem feels good in the moment for both parties, but creates long-term obstacles.</li>
<li>The other extreme, asking people to only come with solutions, often shuts down learning for both parties.</li>
<li>Shifting a habit of solving your team’s problems will feel awkward at first – both for your team and you.</li>
<li>Rather than solving the problem for them, help remove the obstacle.</li>
<li>Support doesn’t just have to come from the manager. Often, looking at the situation together will help surface what kind of support would actually help.</li>
<li>We often assume that people are coming to us for answers. Sometimes, they just need to be heard.</li>
</ul>
<p>Five questions that will help your team step up:</p>
<ol>
<li>What have you tried?</li>
<li>What–or who–is getting in the way of tackling this?</li>
<li>What support do you need?</li>
<li>What would you do if you were in my seat?</li>
<li>Is there anything else I should know?</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="resources-mentioned">Resources Mentioned</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://hbr.org/2025/07/stop-solving-your-teams-problems-for-them">Stop Solving Your Team’s Problems for Them</a> by Elizabeth Lotardo</li>
<li><em>Leading Yourself: Find More Joy, Meaning, and Opportunities in the Job You Already Have</em> by Elizabeth Lotardo (<a href="https://amzn.to/3YcQJZ0">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/90226/9781394238705">Bookshop</a>)*</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="related-episodes">Related Episodes</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/284/">The Way to Stop Rescuing People From Their Problems, with Michael Bungay Stanier</a> (episode 284)</li>
<li><a href="https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/better-support-middle-managers-emily-field/">Where Senior Leaders Can Better Support Middle Managers, with Emily Field</a> (episode 650)</li>
<li><a href="https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/key-norm-high-performing-team-vanessa-druskat/">The Key Norm of a High-Performing Team, with Vanessa Druskat</a> (episode 753)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="discover-more">Discover More</h3>
<p><a href="https://coachingforleaders.com/free">Activate your free membership</a> for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside <a href="https://coachingforleaders.com/plus">Coaching for Leaders Plus</a>.</p>

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