How do you handle someone who's a "squeaky wheel"? - SmartBrief

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How do you handle someone who’s a “squeaky wheel”?

1 min read

By Mike Figliuolo 07/21/15

Leadership

SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.

How do you handle someone who’s a “squeaky wheel”?

  • I always meet their needs and answer their questions: 7%
  • I ask them to generate solutions before coming to me: 90%
  • I direct them to go to someone else for help: 2%
  • I refuse to meet with them until they have something for review: 1%

Make them Self-Sufficient.  “Squeaky Wheels” can consume a great deal of your time if you’re not careful. For the vast majority of you, the push toward making them self-sufficient is clear. For those who aren’t taking this approach, I encourage you to look at how you can wean them from the amount of support you provide. If you use basic self-sufficiency building approaches, you should be able to reclaim that time to invest it elsewhere.

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, author of “Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results” and “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”