I Figured It Out. Why Can’t They?

An employee asks you to walk through the same process again. 

You covered it last week. You have patients waiting, a referral call to return, and a delivery problem that needs your attention. Before you repeat the instructions, you want to know one thing. 

“What did you try?” 

That is a fair question. You expect people to pay attention, make notes, use the resources available, and put some thought into a problem before handing it back to you. You are running a practice. You cannot personally walk everyone through every task. And somewhere in the back of your mind is a familiar thought. 

“Nobody showed me how to do all this. I figured it out.” 

You did. You called around, looked things up, made mistakes, and learned which questions to ask. Over time, you developed judgment you could rely on. 

It is reasonable to expect employees to develop that same resourcefulness. But “figure it out” describes the result you want. It does not necessarily teach someone how to get there. 

The useful distinction is between an employee who wants you to do the thinking and one who has done some thinking but needs direction. 

Those deserve different responses. 

If someone has not checked the written procedure, send them back to it. If they have checked it and found a situation it does not cover, hear them out. If the same question keeps returning, find out why. The employee may not be retaining the instruction. The instruction may be incomplete. Or you may be dealing with a performance problem rather than a training problem. 

You do not have to lower the standard to sort that out. You have to be clear about what meeting the standard looks like. 

“Before you bring this back, check the procedure, identify where you are stuck, and tell me what you think the next step should be.” 

Now you are asking for more than independence. You are asking for preparation, judgment, and a recommendation. 

That is how you make self-reliance an expectation people can work toward—not just a quality you wish they already had. 

The lesson underneath your answer 

Suppose an employee brings you an unfamiliar payer request. You believe the answer is available in the payer’s instructions, and you want them to investigate before interrupting you. 

That is a reasonable expectation. But “You need to figure this out” leaves a lot unsaid. 

Where should they look? How long should they spend? Which source should they trust? At what point does uncertainty become something they should bring back to you? 

You can expect initiative and still be specific about when you want to be involved. 

“Check the current payer instructions. Bring me the section you think applies and your recommendation. If the instructions don’t clearly address the situation, let’s review it before we proceed.” 

The employee is responsible for doing the research and proposing a next step. You are setting the expectation that they come prepared, while making clear that unresolved questions need review before action. 

Don’t confuse silence with progress 

In “Nobody Gets Fired for Saying Nothing,” I wrote about the work people quietly absorb when a necessary conversation does not happen. The biller keeps chasing documentation. The technician keeps compensating for unrealistic promises. Things eventually get done, which makes it easy to miss what the process is costing people.  

The same concern belongs in employee development. 

Someone who stops asking questions may be gaining confidence. They may also be avoiding your reaction, repeating an inefficient workaround, or waiting until you leave before asking a coworker. 

Silence alone does not tell you which. 

Instead of asking only, “Did you get it done?” occasionally ask, “How did you work through it?” 

That gives you a chance to recognize sound judgment, correct a misunderstanding, or discover that the person needs a resource you assumed they already had. 

It also tells your staff that you care about the method, not just whether the problem disappeared from your desk. 

Ask for thinking, not just questions 

Of course, there is another side to this. A manager cannot become the answer desk for every routine decision. 

Development requires effort from the employee, too. 

For ordinary workflow questions, establish a simple expectation. Before bringing you a problem, employees should be ready to explain: 

• What they are trying to accomplish. 

• What they have checked or tried. 

• Where they are stuck. 

• What they think should happen next. 

Match the expectation to the situation. A new employee may not know where to start. Someone facing an urgent patient concern should not delay speaking up to prepare a polished recommendation. 

Use the approach to develop thinking, not to discourage questions. 

When someone brings a reasonable recommendation, resist immediately replacing it with your preferred method. Ask why they chose it. If it meets the requirements and carries acceptable risk, let them try it. 

Otherwise, you may ask people to think independently while teaching them that only your answer counts. 

Make decision-making authority clear 

“Use your judgment” is a reasonable expectation. Make sure people know which decisions are theirs to make. 

Start with three categories: 

• Handle independently when the process is established and the decision is within the employee’s role. 

• Investigate and recommend when the situation is unfamiliar but there is time to review it. 

• Raise promptly when there is a patient safety concern, uncertainty about an applicable requirement, or a commitment beyond the employee’s authority. 

The expectation is not to ask permission for everything. It is to act within their authority, come prepared when they need a decision, and recognize when proceeding without an answer would create unnecessary risk. 

Your example matters here, too. Let people see how you handle something unfamiliar. 

“I haven’t dealt with this before. I’m checking the payer instructions, and if those don’t settle it, I’ll call for clarification.” 

That is not a departure from self-reliance. Checking the right source and knowing when to ask are part of it. 

Then expect employees to follow through. After you work through a question together, have them capture the answer where they can find it next time. When a similar situation comes up, ask for their recommendation before offering yours. Give them more responsibility as their judgment improves. 

You worked hard to become someone the practice could count on. Developing others does not diminish that accomplishment. It extends it. 

Keep the standard high. Expect preparation, initiative, and follow-through. But make the reasoning behind your decisions available to the people you expect to make those decisions next. 

The return on your experience is not having every difficult question land on your desk. It is having more people you can trust to handle the work.