The room was empty except for the two of us. I turned to Alicia, “See it wasn’t that bad. How upside down was your stomach?”
“You know, in the beginning,” she started. “I was afraid that things would get out of control and create more of a problem. But, as the meeting continued, I finally realized that the very things that could blow my team apart were the same things that could weld it together.”
“What else did you learn?” I asked.
“I realized that I have to stop coddling people. My team doesn’t need coddling, they need leadership. And part of that leadership is that I am accountable for the results of the team.
“I am the one in position to know all of the changing circumstances reported by the individual team members. I am the only one with the authority to select and deselect team members. I am the only one with the authority to make or change task assignments. Most importantly, I am the one accountable for those decisions.”
Although you are quite right about the position of authority and accountability held by Alicia, You fail to emphasize another point existing in this example:
Alicia holds the INFORMATION HUB POSITION – She is “in the know” both on the elements of the projects by her employees as well as the strategic decisions and guidelines from her managers.
Her leadership position is supported by being the right person to make the informed decision, which is the only correct way to do it!
Spirovski Bozidar
http://www.shortinfosec.net/
Spirovski,
Thank you for providing a useful “name” to describe Alicia when she says she is “the one in position to know all the changing circumstances. The INFORMATION HUB POSITION. I like that.
This has been a great series.
I especially liked the post where you saw through the concept of “building concensus”, and saw it for what it really was in this case: avoiding making decisions.
I also agree with the previous commenter that the Information Hub is a key component to managing successfully.
To take that thought a little farther, there can also be positions on the ground level of an organization which are information hubs. Positions which, by their very job desctiption, involve communicating with various groups within the organization. Those people can also be good sources of information for what they see on a day to day basis.
Good sources of information like that allow managers to make sound decisions.
Thanks Tom.