You likely have someone
on your team
who quietly works
and offers support
in various ways.
This could be
an employee,
a spouse,
a partner,
a customer.
They are always there
and they likely do things
to support you
that you don’t know about.
It is d@mn easy
to take them for granted.
Recognize them.
Today.
Recognize them
in a way
THEY would want
to be recognized.
You’re d@mn fortunate
to have them on your team.
Ensure they know that.
The no-topic-meeting-setting manager
I talked about yesterday
either
1) didn’t know
the trauma he was inflicting
on his employees
or
2) was deliberately
inflicting trauma
on his employees.
In both cases,
he would have benefited
from someone
who telling him
he was f*cking up,
someone
who would have pointed out
he was being
a sh*tty human.
We all need a truth teller,
someone we respect
and listen to
who will inform us
when we’re f*cking up.
And we ALL f*ck up
from time to time.
The truth teller is an essential part
of successful people’s teams.
We NEED to do better.
We NEED to stop making
costly mistakes.
When you find a truth teller,
protect them
from others
but mostly from yourself.
Rant into the empty sky
about their feedback later.
Shut up
and listen to them
when you’re face-to-face.
Find your truth teller.
Then protect them.
If a project
goes terribly wrong
and I have to call a meeting
with key project people
to discuss it,
I’ll often start the meeting
by taking blame for
any and all mistakes/missteps.
This does a couple things.
It reconfirms I’m in charge
of the project.
The errors rest with me.
And it stops the blame game.
Team members aren’t worried
they’ll be blamed
for the mistakes/missteps.
They aren’t pre-occupied
during the meeting
with assigning blame.
We can focus
on fixing the mistakes
and saving the project.
Assigning blame
sucks up much needed time
and it can cause dissention
within a team.
Take the blame
and move on.