An Expensive Lesson in Team Management

One of my most expensive lessons in team management is to not keep plans about my team and reports close to myself. It’s better to share a work in progress directional plan earlier on than wait for the perfectly laid out plan to be shared at a future date. People aren’t looking for the perfect growth plan, they are often looking to know that we have a plan and/or are interested in creating one. Further, partnering on the discussion helps create a better plan – one that they buy into.

This may sound simple, but is difficult to do consistently. We are so used to being in control that sharing a directional plan requires vulnerability and trust. We often worry what will happen if what we shared as a plan doesn’t materialize. This pushes us to defer things to when the plans are firmed up. In reality though, that day of perfect plans arrives infrequently and often disillusions the team member.

With experience I have found that if we are authentic & committed to developing a way forward for our teams it shows through. We may need to take the first step and share the WIP plan, while articulating it as an evolving but progressing goal. If this happens, we have a higher likelihood of better team morale.