Off I Go to Solve the Problem
I rememer it clearly. It was my calling as a young manager. A youthful team member would come to me with a problem. Someone in another department was behaving in a manner that wasn’t right or just. I would set off on a quest. I’d be mentally dressed full armor as in a royal fairy tale.
I would be off to slay the dragon. And slay that dragon I often did.
Unfortunately, after I slayed the dragon I would listen to the other side of the story . . .
That’s when I’d see that the dragon I’d just slain was really a kitten.
Over time I learned two things well.
- Leadership listens, considers, and seeks out all of the information before taking action.
- People are not grateful when you slay their dragons for them.
Now, my response to a similar story is, “Oh, I’m so sorry that happened. Shall we discuss some thing you might do to get the situation back on track again or do you already have an action plan?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
