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Location: Blogs ExoBlog (by John)Project Management |
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| Posted by: exocubic |
7/14/2008 10:38 AM |
I once had a boss, the VP of Engineering, who stated "Having employees is like mud on your boots." How nice. But his point was that as an Engineer, he could deal with problems from the technical sense, rather than problems from the human sense; he made a good point. There is a Proverb that states, loosely, "Where there is no ox, there is no poop, but you can gain a lot with an ox." (Prov 14:4, click here). The point is much the same, when you have help, you have a mess, but you also have help. Most profound thoughts are really simple on the surface.
But how do you know if it is worth it? Through the course of working with a wide variety of bosses, clients, customers, and teams, you gain a perspective that good engineers, doctors, architects, whatevers, are not (necessarily) the same thing as good managers. Good managers are not (necessarily) the same thing as good leaders. If having employees is like mud on your boots, then when is it worth getting dirty to get the job done.
Obviously there is the 'I Don't Have A Choice' option, where the job requires that you lead a team. But that's not really true, if you think about it, because your attitude about the work can make all the difference. You get to work with a team; you don't have to - if your that good, and you dislike teams that much, quit and freelance. Otherwise, realizing that there are some chores involved with 'taking care of oxen' can make it a whole lot more enjoyable when the rewards start coming in.
Teams are about a rich topic; entire careers are built on the topic of team development, so summarizing is pointless here. But what we can say, at least in one dimension, is that teams are partly about leverage. One recognizes (as cold as it may sound) that treating your team well is critical to getting them to produce. One of the flaws of great minds is the misgiving "if you want something done right, do it yourself". You may scale up to a certain level, or accomplish this for certain tasks, but at some point you need leverage. Learning the skill of treating people with dignity, respect, dare I say honor, is the only real lever that works in a team; even money has its limits. Sure, if you have massive resources, you can hire people to manage the team, but inside the team itself you have ultimately only fear and respect - otherwise people just leave (or revolt).
The next time you are grumbling about the mud on your boots, or cleaning up the mess another member of your team left, think about it from this perspective: human problems are problems of a special sort - often the most challenging and complex. In every tool-box of problem solving, you must have a well-oiled sense of respect if you ever hope to engage a team well. With teams come increase.
P.S. I think that part of the industrial revolution was due to the farm-boy-become-inventor, who was tired of cleaning up the mess... necessity is the mother of invention, after all.
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