I’ve been thinking about how to build a culture of self-service where people don’t block each other and, quite the opposite, empower each other.

In my previous post I share how sharing (pun, ha!) is important.
Here I want to talk about what I call the detective skill 🕵️‍♀️.
Knowledge is very important, but learning how to find/acquire knowledge is as important in my opinion. And this is what I want to talk about here.

2. Learn and Teach how to find the answer, not just the answer

So, you’re at work, and you got a question for your wonderful colleague Bob ?
Ask Bob, but don’t just settle for the answer, ask how you can find the answer yourself next time.

And become a great detective 🕵️‍♀️.

For instance:

• what time is the weekly team meeting?
  answer: 6pm Monday
  how to find the answer: check the team calendar

• is service X deployed?
  answer: yes
  how to find the answer: check the status page at somewhere.com

These are trivial examples, but you can apply this logic to everything.

👉 So if you’ve asked a question, make sure you understand how to find the answer next time.

👉 And similarly! If you’re asked a question, be generous and don’t just give the answer. That’s the easy part. Grow your colleague and show them how to find the answer on their own next time (and maybe share and document this generously in your company wiki 🙂)