Original posting March 27, 2013
There is this misconception that we can somehow manage people… truth is all we can do is lead people. Folks have to manage themselves, especially when we are dealing with contractors. For me to manage a person in the truest sense would be for me to determine the priority of that person at a nitty-gritty level. No thank you…
But what I can do is lead. We can lead by example, we can lead by expectation and we can lead by motivation. When it comes to your team you have to be a leader! Think about how you would want to empower someone to be the best they can be in that role. What does that look like, do they have all the information they need to accomplish this? Do they have the skills necessary? Are they the right person for the role, do their strengths lend to their success? Have they seen you do it sloppy or with excellence? Do they know your passion for the success of their role? Do they know you believe in them? That you want to support them?
Think about it.. how are you showing up as a leader for your team?
When it comes to management, you need to manage the process. Ensure that the highest level of productivity is being created in the process for the purpose of streamlining the operations of the task. This needs to be managed, decisions need to be made, tests need to be run, discussions need to be had. When a process is tried and true then it needs to be implemented correctly, this can be managed (even though it is a person doing the implementing). What this means is you need to LEAD them back to the process.. this will maintain the process being managed correctly.
So lead people, manage processes.. go ahead give it a try and see if your world does not become much simpler ?