Some people have me,others only operate w/the belief they have me.
Some people desire me, others are neutral, and some avoid me.
Some people wouldn’t have a clue what to do with me.
Sometimes I bring out the best in people, other times the worst.
Some people easily lose me and some struggle to gain me.
Some people abuse me.
Some people have a great respect for me.
Control.
Never before in my life has this one topic been so prevalent. I’m in a new phase and a real growing stage at my job. It’s nerve wracking, frustrating, and just downright scary some days because I just don’t have all the answers and I really wish I did.
For the first time in my career I’m responsible for helping in the development of another employee- teaching them, training them, ensuring they have the tools they need to be successful, and of course keeping them busy. I’m fortunate that supervisory duties really lie with my supervisor, and I just get the privilege of teaching, training, and growing without the hassle of “actual management responsibilities”. It’s kind of a start towards bigger things but also gives me a small taste of what management would be like to help gauge my actual interest.
This journey has run the gamut of emotions and I doubt that will change much as I continue growing and learning. When I take on a project, I take ownership of it- and I can’t begin to express how hard it’s been to teach someone everything about my projects, to impart the emotion and the passion I have for what I do, and to slowly start letting go of my day-to-day project responsibilities and control. I’ve always found comfort in knowing that if control didn’t lie in me, it usually lie in somebody with more authority than myself. I’ve never been on the opposite side where I’ve had to relinquish control to something so unfamiliar. And, maybe, what makes me nervous is the amount of responsibility I feel to train, teach, and grow the person I’m giving the control. And, maybe, it's because I know how a person handles control says a lot about who they are and over the few years of my career I've lost a lot of respect for people who abuse/misuse their control. I don't want to be that person to someone else.
You have a wonderful opportunity now to be the mentor to someone that you wish you would have had. I have been a manager for more than 20 years and I like to think I enjoyed loyalty and commitment from my staff because I took a genuine interest in and cared about them. That helped build trust on a very personal level. ONce they knew that my goal was to help them achieve the project goals and that I was their champion, they wanted to deliver. I lapped on lots of praise and tried my best to instil confidence in them. I think you will find that if you treat your staff the way you wish you had been treated, that you will build a successful team and you will feel pretty darn good about yourself. Focus on telling the staff what you need the outcomes to be and then let them do it their way. Trust them! Congratulations and good luck on your new challenges. It's exciting.
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