Thursday, March 10, 2016

Allowing Good People To Do Great Work

If we are mindful, we are aware of the tendency to first concentrate and then to feel anger when something interferes with that concentration.  With mindfulness we can concentrate when it is appropriate to do so and not concentrate when it is appropriate to do so.”
-Ajahn Sumedho
I am a creature of habit and routine.  In my head is a mental checklist of what I need to accomplish every day at work.  Despite what some may think I am very focused on what I am trying to accomplish.  One of my previous leaders told me that when I am into what I am doing I am hyper-focused.  I admit that when I am concentrating or when I am hyper-focused I don’t like to be interrupted.  I am the kind of person that once I am told what needs to be done, I prefer that you stay out of the way and let me get it done.  Every married man has a never ending “Honeydew” list.  I cannot speak for all married men but I can work through my list much quicker and with greater efficiency when my wife is not actually present.  There are people who create tasks and there are people who perform them.  For the best results, there needs to be some separation and, most importantly, some trust between the task creators and the task doer’s.  As I have said to my wife, at the risk of my personal well-being, “If you are going to tell me every move to make, why don’t you just do it yourself?”  The world is full of control freaks and micro-managers.  They can be at home or in the office.  It has always been my belief that these types of people have trust issues.  They are not comfortable allowing people to accomplish tasks on their own.  I am not a big Ronald Reagan fan but there is a saying attributed to him that I like.  He said, “Great leaders surround themselves with smart people and then they get out of the way”.  Too often some leaders feel they must control everything instead of supporting the process by allowing good people to do great work.      

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