The Leader as Coach: Shifting from Problem-Solver to Growth Facilitator

Empower your team by asking insightful questions and guiding discovery, rather than providing all the answers. Master the effective coaching stance.

Lead more effectively as a coach. Shift from fixer to facilitator, empowering your team through enquiry and guided discovery for greater ownership and growth.

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My office door used to feel like a revolving one.

Team members would arrive, one after another, each carrying a problem they expected me to solve. I wore the “Chief Problem-Solver” badge with a certain pride. It felt important. It felt necessary. My days were a blur of putting out fires, giving directions, and providing answers.

But I started noticing a pattern. The same people kept coming back with similar problems. My solutions were temporary fixes, like patching a leaky pipe with chewing gum. It felt like no one was making progress, myself included. I was just getting worn out.

That exhaustion sparked a question. What if my role wasn’t to have all the answers? What if instead, I helped my team find their own? This simple question initiated a profound change in how I lead. I moved from being a stressed-out fixer to becoming a leader who genuinely facilitates growth. This piece is about that journey and the tools that made it possible.

Key Takeaways

• The Fixer’s Fallacy: Constantly providing answers creates dependency and stunts your team’s development.
• The Power of Enquiry: Shifting from telling to asking is the single most important skill for a coaching-focused leader.
• Guiding, Not Directing: Your role is to illuminate the path, not to draw the map. This builds ownership and resilience in your people.
• Embracing Imperfection: A coaching culture requires psychological safety, where trying and failing is considered a vital part of learning.

The All-Too-Familiar Trap of the “Chief Problem-Solver”

For years, I believed that the speed of my answers determined my value. I also thought the quality of my answers played a role in this. An employee is stuck on a project? I’d jump in and outline the next three steps. Two team members have a disagreement? I’d mediate and dictate the resolution.

This approach feels productive. It feels like you’re clearing roadblocks and making things happen. But it’s a trap. It creates a ceiling for your team’s potential, and that ceiling is you.

Every time you swoop in with a solution, you’re robbing your team members of a chance to think critically. They lose the opportunity to experiment and to build their own problem-solving muscles. You become the bottleneck. Without your contribution, everything stagnates, and your to-do list expands to encompass the problems of everyone else.

I remember one afternoon. I was staring at a calendar packed with back-to-back “check-ins.” These were really just “give me the answer” sessions. The weight of it all was crushing. My team wasn’t a team of capable operators; they were becoming a team of messengers, ferrying problems to my desk. At that moment, I realised something needed to change. You wonder what the very first step I took was. It was surprisingly simple.

The Mindset Shift: From Fixer to Facilitator

The first step wasn’t learning a new technique. It was a change in my head. I had to let go of the idea that “leader” meant “expert with all the answers.”

I had to become a gardener instead of a mechanic.

A mechanic fixes what’s broken. A gardener cultivates an environment where things can grow on their own. This endeavour requires patience, trust, and a whole lot of curiosity. The goal is no longer to be the hero who solves the problem. Instead, be the guide who asks the questions that lead to a breakthrough.

This shift in identity is the foundation of facilitative leadership.

• You trade certainty for curiosity. Instead of assuming you know best, you become genuinely curious about how your team member sees the situation.
• You prioritise development over speed. You accept that letting someone find their own way takes longer initially. But the long-term payoff in their ability is immense.
• You measure success differently. Success is no longer “I solved it.” It becomes “They solved it, and I saw them grow in the process.”

This change can feel uncomfortable. Your ego will scream at you to just give the answer and move on. You have to quiet that voice and trust the process.

Your Toolkit for Facilitative Leadership

Moving from theory to practice requires some concrete tools. This isn’t about complicated models; it’s about simple, repeatable actions that build your coaching skills for managers.

The Art of Asking Powerful Questions

This is your number one tool. A powerful question is open-ended and provokes reflection. It doesn’t have a “right” answer. It’s designed to make the other person think for themselves.

Here’s a look at weak questions versus powerful ones:

• Instead of asking, “Did you try calling the vendor?” (A yes/no question that implies a solution)
• Ask: “What have you tried so far?” (Opens the door for them to walk you through their process)
• Instead of: “Why don’t you just do X?” (A suggestion disguised as a question)
• Ask: “What options are you considering?” Or, “If you had no constraints, what would you try?” (Encourages creative thinking)

A few of my go-to powerful questions:

• What does success look like for this specific situation?
• What’s the most challenging part of this for you right now?
• What support do you need?
• What’s one small step you can take right now?

These questions transfer the cognitive load from you to them. You’re not solving; you’re helping them process.

Guiding Discovery, Not Dictating Direction

Once you ask a powerful question, the next step is to shut up.

Seriously.

Give them space to think. The silence feels awkward, but it’s where the magic happens. Your job is to listen—really listen—to what they say and what they don’t say.

When they start exploring ideas, resist the urge to confirm or reject them. Instead, guide their discovery with more curiosity.

Let’s say a team member says, “I think I need to build a whole new report for this.”

• A director’s response: “No, that will take too long. Just pull the data from the old report.”
• A coach’s response: “Tell me more about that. What would that new report help you see?”

The coach’s reply honours their idea and invites them to think about it more deeply. On their own, they realise that it’s too much work. Alternatively, they uncover a brilliant reason that you hadn’t even considered. This is how you empower your team.

Wrapping Up

Making the shift from problem-solver to growth facilitator isn’t an overnight switch. It’s a practice. You’ll slip up. You’ll catch yourself giving answers when you meant to ask questions. That’s okay. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s progress.

Starting this journey unlocked so much potential in my team. They became more resourceful, more confident, and more engaged. And me? I finally stopped solving everyone’s problems. I moved into the much more rewarding business of helping people grow. My calendar cleared up, and my job became infinitely more satisfying.

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🌱 Beyond the Method: The Growthenticity Connection

The core ideas explored in this article aren’t just isolated concepts; they deeply resonate with the principles of what I call ‘Growthenticity’:

“The continuous, integrated process of becoming more oneself (authentic). We achieve such growth by leading with questions, learning through action, and growing by embracing uncertainty and imperfection. All of this is fueled by curiosity.”

The move from a “fixer” to a “coach” is a perfect expression of this philosophy. When you choose to lead with questions, you are fueling your curiosity and inspiring it in others. You are intentionally stepping into uncertainty, trusting that your team can learn through action rather than just obeying your directions.

This path requires you to embrace imperfection in yourself. You must learn to let go. You also need to embrace imperfection in your team as they navigate their challenges. It is a journey towards a more authentic style of leadership. In this style, your value does not stem from possessing all the answers. Instead, this growth comes from your ability to help others discover their own potential. It’s a powerful way to lead, learn, and grow.

👉 I encourage you to check out my paid Substack offerings at Lead, Learn, Grow. You can further explore concepts like ‘Growthenticity.’ You will also gain access to practical tools and connect with a supportive community. This community focuses on fostering authentic and impactful growth.

Join us as we unpack these ideas and support each other on our journeys.

🌱 Learn more about me and what I offer my free and paid Substack subscribers.🌱

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Your Turn

What’s one small change you’ll make this week to shift from “telling” to “asking”? Share your thoughts or experiences in the comments. I’d love to hear how you’re applying these ideas in your leadership practice.