I’m doing something I’ve never done! This post is a transcribed comment from a Leadership Freak reader.
Back in the mid 90s I worked at one of the larger Nuclear Power stations. I was in the Electrical Design group, a pool of 11 with one supervisor.
Each morning the other 10 guys would often leave our trailer quickly about the time our supervisor was coming back from his morning meeting. I was the only one left to handle that day’s “emergency” (crap) assignment.
So I thought that if I was going to have all the emergencies, I might as well control the situation.
I found a friend (my spy) who was from another department who was always at the morning meeting. I asked him to contact me when an emergency was coming back with my supervisor (either during the meeting or shortly afterwards).
The trailer team scattered and I would get the information on what was coming up.
Before my supervisor returned, I wrote down the issues, contacted the external help I needed – letting them know what I wanted.
I waited in my supervisor’s office for him to return. I let him know I was aware of the situation, I had already started gathering support and explained who I needed internally to help.
He would always smile at me and say, “You got it.”
I took control. My supervisor knew what I needed and supported me.
When I left the group moving West in 2001, we went to lunch and he thanked me for the way I handled those situations and was glad to have me on his team.
(This post is a slightly modified version of a comment that Roger Lauricella left on yesterday’s post, “THE BOOMERANG EFFECT: THE DARK SIDE OF ENTHUSIASM.”)
Don’t miss the book giveaway on this morning’s post. MAINTAINING BALANCE IN TIMES OF PROSPERITY
