Leadership and the Impermanent Nature of Problems

In summer 2008, things were different. Maybe better.

My Mom, 79, lived with my son and I, who at that point was just turning 18. I wrote the following:

Our family has three generations living in one house – the definition of dysfunctional! My Mom who is elderly can’t walk well, yells at us from the other room, and hates Mexican food, and likes everything well done with a lot of salt. My son who is a teenager listens selectively, loves Mexican food and is a fitness nut. I’m in midlife, can’t hear that well (too much rotating machinery), like Mexican food but can’t cook it, and hate overcooked food. So we have my Mom yelling from the other room to people who can’t or don’t hear her, and we eat food that least one of us will not like almost every night!

It was sometimes a challenge to live harmoniously. But these were impermanent problems. My son left for college the next year, and my Mom has since passed on. It was my Mom that told me, and she was right: these will be some of the best days of your life.

So it goes with teams at work. Sometimes teams argue ( See Why Teams Disagree). Tensions can escalate to the point of crisis. That why team leadership is so key. Someone to remind us: these are the best days of our careers, on these projects that stretch our abilities and offer such benefit for everyone involved.

Leadership sets the tone for teams. There is almost nothing that a team of smart people can’t accomplish, given the charter to do so and appropriate leadership support. Teams go through growing stages, and it’s leaderships job to keep teams moving forward.

On projects, I like to compare team membership to a crew on a large vessel at sea. At the beginning of the project, people are onboarding, and if they decide to leave, it’s low impact. Leadership has to think carefully: do we have the right crew for the voyage we are going to set out on? If not, it’s best to get the right people onboarded before the vessel leaves port. Once at sea, it’s much harder to bring new resources on.

Keep Everyone Onboard the Ship! Sometimes on projects, a storm will come up. The severity of the storm depends on a lot of factors, but bad storms can wipe out projects, and project teams. In my experience, hearing “Man Overboard” long after the ship has left the port can have measurable negative consequences for a project. It’s hard to replace the knowledge that key crew members accumulate. Their replacement rarely can duplicate their effectiveness, even if talented. In my experience, better to supplement than replace a struggling crew member. Unless it’s mutiny!

Senior Leaders can provide remarkable assistance, helping to ensure the winds remain fair, and the weather calm for the voyage. They need to remember and remind us all about the impermanent nature of problems, the importance of each crew member to success, and provide the support needed to keep everyone moving forward.

When Storms do crop up tie everyone to the mast. Team members aren’t just cogs in the project wheel. The problems will be resolved, new problems will emerge, and those will be resolved in time as well. Having team members who understand the how and why of the entire project is critical to producing the kind of results that transform businesses.

Problems and solutions are always transitory. Steady leadership that inspires teams to respond to a call for “all hands on deck”? That’s how great projects come to life.

What’s your favorite metaphor for teams, projects, work that gets done?