Home Improvement Parallels with Leadership Improvement
I’ve been working on several home improvement projects in our newly acquired condo the last week and a half. At times I’ve come home exhausted, wondering when it will ever end. Other times I’ve come home excited to see the progress we’ve made in such a short time. In the process I’ve come to see several key leadership principles illustrated that I thought I’d share:
1. I don’t know everything. The sooner I admit it, the better the project progresses.
I’m pretty quick to admit that I am not Tim “The Toolman” Taylor when it comes to projects around the house. I’m eager to learn, and willing to work hard, but in all honesty I lack sufficient experience to tackle many projects without significant outside help. I’m fortunate to have my Dad and my Father-In-Law around to help provide that extra experience. They have both made a huge difference in the projects that we’ve tackled, and the more often I admit “I don’t know what to do,” the quicker stalled tasks get rolling again.
I realize I need to be more sensitive to this aspect as a leader as well. If a task seems stalled, perhaps a probing question will reveal that I failed to give adequate direction or give me an opportunity to clarify an aspect of the project. This also ties closely with the “Task Maturity” idea in number 3.
2. The right resources are critical to keeping a project on track.
Many times I’ve seen that a home improvement project can be transformed from “daunting” to “done” in almost no time when the right tool is brought in for the job. I must admit my inexperience with these projects limits my approach to solving them to the few tools I feel comfortable using. When my Dad or Father-In-Law pitch in, they have seen a much broader array of projects and tools and can often see that my time can be better spent if I have the right tools in hand.
In leadership I see this as a very interesting parallel. When I give a project to someone, they will use the resources at their disposal to try to solve the project — but they will be limited by their experience and the “tools” they are comfortable using. Over time their experience will broaden, but in the beginning I’ll need to be sure to monitor their progress a little more closely, and step in with the right “tool” when the timing is correct.
3. Team projects need to account for task maturity (borrowing from Andy Grove).
Working with two experienced craftsmen on a home improvement project is an interesting experience. On the one hand I get to enjoy watching the depth of their combined knowledge streamline the projects we tackle, and on the other I get to see them collaborate to their strengths to make sure their individual expertise is used to the fullest.
A few days ago I was struggling to stay busy, and felt I was watching the others work more than I was actually working. I certainly didn’t feel this was fair, and wanted to help more, but was stuck. My level of task maturity - or ability to be self-starting and see a task to completion with little or no monitoring - is pretty low when it comes to home improvement. I admitted to both my Dad and my Father-in-Law that I needed some more explicit direction, and they were able to give me a list to tackle. I love lists like that. I was able to take each item, and work through it… in a day I’d accomplished more than the previous three combined because I had adequate direction, and a sequence to follow.
As I leader I need to be certain I evaluate my team members and their task maturity. The more mature, the less detail and description a project will take. The less mature team members will require a more sequential project description, and perhaps more of a walk-through to get going. Additionally, the degree of monitoring will vary dramatically with the task maturity of the team member. I will need to monitor everyone until I know how well they can handle a particular task or category of task on their own. Then I can begin to back off and allow them to function at their task maturity level.
Conclusion
I’m enjoying working on our new house immensely, and am glad I’ve been able to recognize these parallels to the working world. It is amazing how some principles seem to recur regardless of the arena in which they are found. Hopefully you can use these same principles in your sphere of influence.