​Date: April 20, 2015

Ask

Dana Loud, a co-worker of mine who’s an amazing artist tweeted this recently:

As a leader, there is no better way to build trust among your team than to admit you don’t know something and ask for their input. #gamedev

I think this is an excellent example of vulnerability and squashing the lizard brain. Our AD said he didn’t know something and he asked the team. What a better way to build trust and autonomy on the team? No one likes a know-it-all, and everyone needs to feel connected to the work at a larger scale than just the tasks they are assigned or take on.

You can take this ideal from the in-the-moment problem solving up to the more holistic approach. In one on one’s I like asking people some of these kinds of questions. It’s always interesting to hear each persons responses.

• What do we do well as a team? 
• Where can we improve?
• What should be more concrete that is vague right now?
• What can I do better for you?

It’s rewarding to hear people work out and solve problems you yourself don’t know the answer to. Or even better, answer questions and solve problems you might not know even exists.