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The Illusion of
Control
Mark recently watched a
consulting firm executive manage a team that was putting together a
final presentation for a client. The presentation recommended new
behavior, new systems and brought together six months worth of data
which the team of six had been collaborating on.
The only person in the
room who
knew what the final outcome should look like was the leader. The fact
that the leader's vision for the presentation was taking precedence
makes sense - he's senior because he has more experience, and owns the
client relationship. But he
hadn't communicated it, because he wanted
to shape it all, and wanted to "make sure."
What this meant was that
everyone had to come to him with every change, and every question. They
needed guidance because they couldn't see the final result, because in
the leader's mind it was hard to say it out loud, but
he knew it, and
that was enough. He became
increasingly irritated each time the team
came to him for guidance. It got to the point where he was calling
everyone 'stupid' under his breath because they were asking simple
questions to which they 'should know the answers'.
Unfortunately this was
a
self-fulfilling prophecy. Even thought they might ought to have known -
because the tasks they needed guidance on were simple - they didn't
have a critical piece of information: the desired outcome.
When you, as a manager
or leader
or even project coordinator, keep to yourself the desired outcome,
several bad things happen. You have to be involved in more minor
details [even minor details require reflection on the bigger picture -
think about it]. Your team doesn't get to get to be involved in the
details. Your team doesn't get developed by learning how to make
decisions. You can't reconsider different, perhaps better, outcomes.
More communication directly with you reduces communication among fellow
team members. Work slows. Ideas are censored, because without context
their value can't be assessed. Quality suffers. And you become less
effective, over time (as you become more frustrated).
And your team hates it,
too, by
the way.)
And, it's completely
your fault.
It's one of the major faults that happens to new managers, or
particularly intelligent managers, or managers who value expertise
power highly (an awful lot of us). This is hard to hear if you're one
of those types of managers, we know. The answer is to share more, and
share it early. Trust more during and involve everyone throughout. The
only thing worse than going through a project like this, is learning
that you will have to go through the next project like this, because no
one learned anything of any value, and you haven't got any better.
The more you trust your
team,
the better the outcome. Yes, mistakes will be made, but you'll have
time to correct them in part because you won't be the one making them
all.
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