“Things didn’t go as smoothly as you thought. But the team and I, we fixed it and made sure it all went well.”
I’ve had my teams tell me this in the past, and I used to feel extremely anxious.
What are they not telling me?
Why are they hiding things from me?
It was easy to let the control freak in me take over.
As a Project Manager, the failure of the project was on me.
I couldn’t let it happen.
And so I used to obsess over details, and wanted to know
– what everyone was doing,
– – how well they were doing it
– how far along they were
In time, I learned to trust more.
I learned how to read my team a bit more.
I listen, and I allow them a safe space to share their thoughts without judgement.
I found that if I do this, the team self-polices, and help each other keep track.
As a PM I am the point of escalation.
If the team can achieve outstanding results without much input from me, then it is indeed, a high performing team.
The only role I play, is the enabler.
When I hear my team tell me that they’ve fixed problems before I get to hear about them, I get mixed feelings.
Proud that they’ve honed their problem solving skills and sorted the situation.
Slight anxiety wondering what would have happened if they couldn’t.
I think that my style of trusting the team and creating safe working environment for them is allowing their independence and confidence to flourish.
And I should trust them and the process.
Luckily, in so many years in consulting, I’ve never been let down.
I feel so fortunate to work with some very amazing people.
#bethatperson
#leadership
#excellence
#beingconscientious
#zenhaoprotip
#ItsTheHumanElementThatCounts