“We get a lot of yellow lights around here. Not really a red light, but not a clear green light either. We kinda don’t really know what to do… It takes a long time to get clarity.”

I was interviewing employees on behalf of a leader whom I advise. She wants to improve her ability to lead her team in exploring new ways to create value, and this theme came up repeatedly.

As I dug into the issue, it became clear that most folks in the organization are looking to her to provide answers. But when a leader lacks conviction in regards to an answer — as is almost always the case when getting into the details of a new direction — it can leave the team floundering. Yellow light syndrome.

My advice? Don’t be “the answer gal.” Be “the approach gal.”

Shift from advocating any particular answer to advocating an approach to discover answers. By leveraging experimentation as a way to create critical new data data, she has effectively unburdened herself of the need to have the answers herself, AND she has unleashed her team with the confidence and capability they need to discover the answers for themselves.

Win-win.

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