To Let Be Or Not To Let Be

I have heard said that one of the ways to develop team members' skill is to provide direction and then let them go off and do it and allow them to make mistakes as they learn. I wonder if this is this really a realistic plan in the current world of high demand, short schedule, and minimum budget project management?

I say yes and no to the “ idea that one of the ways to develop your team members' skill is to provide direction and then let them go off and do it and allow them to make mistakes as they learn ( (Mahon, 2009).

In certain circumstances, it can be a realistic plan in today's project management world. I believe people learn the most when they do not succeed in their objective, but a subordinate must be monitored closely when they are having difficulties. My career has taught me that a leader can educate, train, and monitor a team member all they want, but it is not until the team member is allowed to venture out on their own do they truly learn.

Growing up my parents did not attend formal courses to teach me to crawl, walk or run. We can be shown how to catch and throw a ball, but it is not until we drop the ball numerous times or overthrow our target do we really learn. Trial and error are the methods in which we use our education and find out if it applies in the situation we are involved. Many times what we learned is not reality. We must adapt what we learned to what works in the real world.

These same basic concepts on learning to apply to our professional lives as well. People learn from piers, managers, and/or experts in their field. Formal education beyond a training manual has become increasingly important in how organizations train their employees. For example, workshops are conducted that give examples on how to handle a human resources issue, interact with a customer in a given situation, or how to conduct a disaster recovery plan. A major problem with these training methods is that they are based on generic, standard situations a person will face.

Even though all snowflakes look the same each snowflake has a different design. Learning by doing and trial and error can be argued to be the best way to learn in the present world of "high demand, short schedule, and minimum budget project management" but it is often not a realistic method to develop team member proficiencies. I believe a good leader will teach their team members the skills to excel at their position. After they teach their team the skills to perform the leader must allow those members to succeed or fail on their own to some extent.

I think an effective leader will be aware of team members at all times. A leader must build confidence in their team members by congratulating them when they are succeeding, and supporting them when they are not. By supporting team members when they are not succeeding a leader gives them the comfort of knowing the leader will be there for them no matter what. The business world is too competitive to allow team members to freelance to much be given the pressures to finish projects within short schedules, minimum budgets, and reduced resources. A good project leader must quickly evaluate a situation, and take action accordingly allowing team members a chance to grow, but at the same help guides them when needed.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" in your work environment.

Have you heard the saying “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”? This saying applies in a working environment more than some people think. The word enemies might be a bit harsh. I consider enemies as anyone who directly or indirectly negatively impacts my ability to perform what I am doing at that time. The following is one example of where someone could be viewed as the enemy in a work environment.

One time in career I was working as a contracted employee. This meant that I had a desk in an office, I worked for the company, yet I was not technically part of the organization. I had no performance goals, or specific responsibilities.

I created my own marketing materials that had to be approved by senior management. My ideas were fresh and creative, which was something this organization lacked. Very quickly my ideas became respected by the entire office. Very soon you could say I was made an accidental project manager of their marketing campaigns.

A Vice President within the organization loved my ideas, but was always trying to make changes to them after I submitted my proposals to senior management. Because the actions of the Vice President negatively impacted my ability to accomplish my projects I considered this person an enemy who I had to keep him close. Did I mention he was a good friend, and I had known him for years? This fact brings a whole new dynamic into friends and enemies, but I will not go into detail under the topic.

The Vice President was not vindictive and was not trying to sabotage my projects. He was trying to help. His proposed changes and following discussions concerning his revisions would delay the implementation of my marketing campaigns. This would frustrate senior management, other employees, and me.

What I needed to do was get this Vice President on my side. To do this, I educated him on the change imperatives. Two change imperatives I practiced were change is everywhere, and people do not like change.

This particular Vice President needed to be shown that the old ways of marketing for their clients were being done by everyone else, and that their marketing did not differentiate them from other organizations. I knew he did not like the idea of changing so I had to take his hand and lead him down the road to enlightenment.

He understood change was needed in their internal processes, and how they interacted with clients and business partner. The Vice President was excellent as this, but he did not realize the importance of changing how they marketed their services. Once I compared marketing methods of other organizations to my ideas, he understood why change was required.

By using the change imperative of change is everywhere, and people do not like change I made him comfortable with the idea of change. Once he saw a change to their marketing was needed, and change was taking place all around him he became excited. He became enthusiastic about my ideas. He came to understand that I was a catalyst for change, and he cut back on his unintentional interference. As Rosanne Cash once said, “The key to change is to let go of fear.” I helped him let go of his fears.

This experience taught me that if I have ideas that require a change to a process I must quickly observe how everyone is reacting to change, and why they are behaving in a particular manner. At first, I thought the Vice President was being critical of my ideas, but then I realized he was only trying to help. Once I helped him understand the need for change, I acquired another sponsor and gained validity.

Credibility Taken Too Far

Continuing with the last week’s topic of credibility I would like to give an example of a time someone I knew took taking credibility too far.

One person I can easily recall who took credibility to the point of excess I will call Paul (name changed to protect the innocent). Paul demonstrated the excess of development to vanity.

I was the owner of an office much like someone who owns a McDonald's. Owners of McDonald’s own the store, but sell McDonald’s products. I had been very prosperous doing this and Paul wanted to do the same. I helped him establish his office by putting him in contact with the appropriate people, and answering his questions on what I did  to become successful.

Paul was very focused on starting his office the proper way, and this served him well. He established the processes needed to succeed, and succeed he did. His office became profitable quickly, and he was very happy and easy going.

After a few short months, I could see he was changing as a person. Paul became obsessed with being perfect for what he did. A great person once said (Mahon, L.) “Many of us think that perfectionism is a good thing as we always strive to do our best - right?” I agree in this statement. I believe anyone who has ever been successful has had the drive to perfection to some degree.

Paul’s drive for perfectionism had its downside. “He was never satisfied with his performance, or the performance of others ( (Mahon, L.). Each month Paul was always looking for ways to outperform his previous month’s results. This is not a bad in itself but Paul’s approach was detrimental.

At the time, Paul was running his business out of his home. This was not unusual, but he took it to be excess. He began to work longer, and longer hours at home. Paul took less free time. He had a wide social network, so he would go out a lot. Again, this is not a bad thing. Balance in life is very important but Paul partied too much. Paul attempted to be the perfect friend, and not let the number of hours he was working interfere with his socialization. He was becoming spread thin.

Paul never showed humility. He was more concerned with his external appearance then he was his internal well-being. Paul began to get stressed about the smallest details. A quote by A. Maslow is “If the only tool you have is a hammer; you tend to see every problem as a nail.” Paul took this approach, and attacked every issue that he encountered. He expected perfection out of his business partners, and when this did not happen, he became more overwhelmed.

The results of Paul’s excess were a mental breakdown that caused him to be unproductive for three months. He never shaved, looked like hell, never went out, and gained weight. Paul was engaged to get married, and this almost caused him to lose his fiancé.

The moral of this post is sometimes when a person is involved in their work they might not be able to see beyond a to-do list. They probably are working to build credibility even though they do not call it that.

Relax, take breaks, and look at your work and social life. Everything worked out in the end, but it took Paul several months to regain his focus, and to understand what happened. He kept his office, fiancé, and he went on to be very successful. Looking back on those times taught him (and me) a lot. Paul recovered but many people never do.