What do you think? How do you want me to do it? Can you take a look? What are you looking for? Can I get your opinion? These are all questions asked to overcome our lack of confidence.

Organizations are making us afraid of our own capabilities. We question our talents. We lack confidence that we can do our job. To mitigate this, we ask permission. We ask for direction. We ask for agreement.

We check with our supervisor for direction. We look to our peers and friends for feedback. We look for templates and paint by number instructions.

Our fear of failure is making us all grey. It is keeping us from adding our own unique and special talents to the effort.

When I was a kid, I would ask my dad for help. He would always look at me and say; “Figure it out yourself, you can do it.”

He was right, and when he was wrong, I learned a lot. It was a great confidence builder.

Sucking the confidence out of employees hides the problems, creates bottlenecks and kills creativity and diversity of thought. It’s not empowering.

The next time an employees asks you for a template or how to do something, say to them, “you can do it, go figure it out.”

They will and if they don’t you’ll quickly find out where the real problems are.

You can do it, I know you can. Go figure it out!