The story:
When you join our firm, it’s made clear to you the targets you need to hit to start your training to become a manager. Once those are hit it’s made clear that the first step to starting the actual management training program is to read Patrick Lencioni’s “The five disfunctions of a team”. It’s a relatively simple read about a newly appointed CEO in the tech space but is a masterpiece in that it outlines the most commons issues a team can face with regards to trust, conflict, commitment, accountability and results (I doubt I’m getting commission on sales but if you haven’t read it and you manage people, it great). Once read, prospective managers are asked to prepare a brief presentation on what they learnt from the book and what they think their biggest weakness is. Management is an undervalued skill and whilst the book is not rocket science it’s as good a point as any to start from.
A few months ago, I was approached by one of our rising stars who requested they start their management training. I leant over my desk, passed them one of the five copies of the book that sit in my office and with what in hindsight was a highly overconfident move uttered the words “It’s on you, you know what to do”. 2 weeks later the star returns with a confused look on their face.
“So, what did you think?” I asked.
“I enjoyed it, not sure why you think it’s so important though?” says the star.
“What do you mean?” Suspicion growing.
“Well we don’t work for a tech company.”
“Sorry………………………………what?” I said, subtly suppressing the urge to throw myself out the window.
The Problem:
Patrick Lencioni, Zig Ziglar, Steven Levitts, Angela Duckworth, Charles Duhigg, Mark Manson, James Clear, Ray Dalio (to name a but few) are all incredible guides. They’ve done research, written books and made available endless advice to help us all get ahead. That’s just it though, it’s advice not a guide book. They didn’t become great at solving problems by solving other people’s problems they became great by solving their own problems then talking about it.
In our increasingly technology focused world where instruction manuals come with every product and most problems are fixed by a call to IT support this is an increasingly common issue. Our star had decided that the book would be a step by step guide on exactly what to do to be successful. Failed to realize that success won’t always come from the push of a button or one single action but is more frequently a series of trial and error until you hit success or failure.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t think I’m making a groundbreaking point here but most failings start with the simplest of errors. At its core “The five dysfunctions of a team” is about trusting each other to do a good job and in this regard, I had failed my teammate. I’d assumed they would figure out that they take what they can from the book, mold it to their challenges and disregard the rest. Unfortunately I hadn’t been clear this book wasn’t the source of all my knowledge and experience. That’s why we never assume, it makes an ass out of you and me.
The solution:
The art of reading any self-development piece is in taking what’s relevant and removing the rest, it’s not an easy task but something that’s critical if you wish to progress. And that’s what I explained to our rising star. Unfortunately, most traditional learning, what you grew up with at school for example, teaches you the opposite. It’s about what you know not how you think. There is no guide to being a good manager, you have to take the available info, look for a bit of advice, have a think and make your best judgement call.
And that’s my extended point. Before I start barreling through my career failures, I wanted to make something abundantly clear to everyone and anyone who reads this: I can’t solve your problems. I’m also not trying to solve your problems. The only person who can solve your problems is you. I just want to show you how I solved my problems and hopefully give you some helpful ideas to solve your own problems.