What's up Wednesday: Catching and throwing

Wednesday marks the mid-point of the working week and the run into the weekend and it seems the perfect time to stop and think. #whatsupwednesday is a snapshot of what's been going on, or will be, in my week based on a little thought and reflection.

The catch

If someone pulls the pin on a hand grenade throws it and says, here catch, I'd say don't catch it; pretty good advice I guess right? It's best to run away or it could be quite a disconcerting moment for you.

But what happens with virtual hand grenades, you know, those times when people throw a problem right at you then run in the other direction as fast as they can expecting you to deal with it. We have a choice. Catch it or not.

I won't to go into details but, in short, a team member at work walked into my office, dropped a hand-grenade-problem on me and walked away feeling pretty good about himself for lightening the load. I can't run away from situations like this unfortunately, being the leader and all, but rather than simply scooping up the issue and dealing with it I take a different tact. Often it's easier to just do it myself, but that won't teach my team anything at all and I want them to be empowered, independent thinkers - Not assholes.

It's my job to lead but I have a firm policy in that I expect operators to think for themselves, autonomously and with confidence; I empower them to do so and provide the support they need to deploy. The team, therefore, don't bring me problems without potential solutions to consider as well. Usually.

There's much to gain with this strategy and in my team it works really well, as it has with other teams I've led. It leaves me free to move on with larger up-chain issues, means I can rely upon the team to act decisively, instills ownership and responsibility and permits the team to excel bringing pride and satisfaction leading to better attitudes.

Simply put, I'm not a grenade-catcher [or thrower] and teach those I lead not to be either; it doesn't mean dodging work, though, far from it.

The throw

A method often used by leaders in cases like this is to firmly hand the challenge or problem back along with stern words to sort it out and report. It's like throwing it right back which can feel good initially as one can move on, however it's not productive long-term. It can bring feelings of disgruntlement, lack of leadership-confidence, ruin attitudes and performance and any respect the leader may hold in the first place. I do it differently.

I looked at the situation today, devised a few potential solutions, then called the asshole team member back into my office for a beating meeting.

The reasonably new but should know better than to bring problems with no solutions person was treated to a lovely hour-long session with me in which I forced empowered him, through guidance and support, to seek his own possible solutions to move the challenge forward and to take ownership. When he'd laid out his potential solutions I asked, great, now what are you going to do? I did that several times as he drilled down on the best actions and then finally selected one to run with.

At that point I smiled and said something like, that's great, a really good decision, well done. I have confidence in you and look forward to your updates on the process as you roll it out. That's support without removing responsibility.

The fellow left my office re-educated in the ways of G-dog's leadership style, didn't feel dictated to and was indeed feeling empowered and in control of the actions he would deploy to move the challenge to a resolution. Ownership and responsibility is something I value and as he walked out I could see he had embraced both. There were no hard words or lessons, no threats and no throwing the problem back to him to deal with alone.

It's a simple process I learned a long time ago in which the person comes to their own conclusions rather than being told what they are. They learn along the way and gain valuable confidence and self-worth-feels. The process of them applying effort and [hopefully] succeeding also gives me something to reward them for later also.

A good leader will never take accolades for work subordinates perform; to do so breeds malcontent, lack of confidence in the leadership and an overall poor attitude. A good leader will promote the efforts and results of their team up the chain, give credit where it's due and provide support without removing the responsibility. I don't need or want praise from my superior, the Director, but the benefit of delivering up-chain praise to my team is massive. The Director knows what I do anyway and a productive team punctuates it better than me stealing my teams successes ever could.

I'll be honest, I felt like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and jamming it in the guys mouth when he first came in whining like a little baby but...I went the other way and feel it was the right choice of course. At least the cleaners won't have to clean up the mess, and I've got an operator who's a little better at operating, feels validated and proud of his effort and will do what he can to excel knowing he'll be rewarded.