Let Go

The really interesting thing about having a job for a while (over 2 years) is that you get a really good opportunity to compare one years performance against the previous year. And although many things change year on year, you know that one thing has been a constant - you.

And given that I'm not one for resting on my laurels, I look intently for areas where my activity has yielded an improvement, or for areas which, despite my best efforts, appear to have remained poor or under- performing. I'm pleased to say that 2012 has been a good year with some strong improvements in my department, but it has rather driven some odd behaviour in me. In summary, I'd say that I've started to let people 'get on with it' by themselves.

Ordinarily this wouldn't be an issue, but of course few of us work in a vacuum and there are a couple of side effects. Firstly, and the easiest to resolve, is a distinct lack of basic knowledge of what your team is up to. Of course, without having problems escalated to you or requiring your intervention, you never get to have those conversations where the poor guy or girl has to explain to the manager how things all went astray. So you need to replace these sessions win your own - either walking around chatting to individuals, or organising catchup sessions, steering groups, etc. Either way, it's solvable.

What is more difficult to fix is your peers and managers behaviour: when they continue to apply the same old rules and techniques to a situation which no longer requires it. So they insist on the same level of documentation, the same Spanish Inquisition when you have a meeting with them, the same panic when a problem is found - or, more likely, fever pitch levels of communication around a crisis because there hasn't been one for a while.

My suggestion to them: let go!

Recognise that the world has changed, and that it's changed for the better. That you need to change too, and up your game to that level that you wanted to be at when you first joined. And we'll all see the benefit.

The challenge for the rest of us, therefore, is helping them come to this realisation!