How can I help you?
In 2018, NBC began airing a medical drama called “New Amsterdam”. In the show Dr. Goodwin came in as the new medical director, who set out to reduce bureaucracy at the hospital and focus on exceptional patient care. Whenever Dr. Goodwin met new people on his team, he repeated the same question again and again: "how can I help you?", and then proceeded to make their request a reality.
His leadership approach of asking this question is contrary to a more traditional "telling" style. In a "telling" approach, the leader makes decisions and communicates them to their reports. They provide specifics (who, what, where, when, and how), define the action(s) to be taken, closely supervise delivered work, and ask questions to check for understanding. This leadership model assumes that the leader at the top has the most experience, the most context, and thus knows best. This style breeds a team that performs their tasks adequately but their motivation lacks. They might feel uncomfortable challenging their leader, or suggesting more creative ways to approach work.
The actual question hidden here is: "how can I help you do your job better?" As leaders, and also while collaborating with colleagues, we don't want to be the blocker preventing work getting done. When people have to constantly come to us with clarifying questions, we become that blocker. Thus, we are not growing the team's skills or letting them take responsibility for their work.
If you wish to increase team motivation, ownership, and responsibility, you need people to learn how to find the answers for themselves. One way is by aligning everyone on a clear vision. Asking lots of questions is another. Like Dr Goodwin, remove yourself as a blocker, provide the support they need, and inspire your team to do their best work.