Take Control of Your Career or Someone Else Will
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
great mindset to prosper with what others see as “crap”
Exactly! Really challenging and inspirational.
Dan, happy I could contribute to the dialogue.
Hey Roger, I couldn’t stop smiling yesterday, after reading your comment. Thanks
Dan, so thought about this how or who got me to start being a fixer like Walt says. It was all a combined effort in my early years of my father Angelo, my maternal grandfather Simon and my paternal grandfather Anthony. All hard working men who found ways to fix the challenges presented in life. They all worked hard and never really complained other than what the hard work did to their bodies. I learned in endless ways from those fine men and I miss them each to this day. Maybe you can dig into examples of how some have become leaders and fixers based on those in their upbringing and the effects. Might be very interesting.
Like Roger I am a fixer. I learned early in my work life, if you fix something that someone else needs fixed it tends to come back in a good way. Those guys who always ran when worked showed up never like me for that. They thought I was a “chump” (and other words) for always wanting the hard jobs. I sometimes wonder where they are, they sure are not here on top or anyplace I can see. When I recruit new people I always look for the fixers who want to work.
Hey Walt I do like and get enthused being a fixer, usually taking the unusual route to the fix. If everyone takes the road on the left and always get the same result I’ll take the road on the right and get a different more efficient better result. Here’s to all us fixers.
Interesting read. In my business, there is so much data flowing in real-time, it is seldom an issue to get blind-sided. We typically know what’s going on before the higher-ups do. At least that is the case within the facility. Things do sometimes come from outside (e.g. Warranty, Field Quality), but these are usually less frequent because of the quality control internally.
Dan—you didn’t end the blog post with your usual provocative question.
Roger–great initiative on your part. But your supervisor didn’t do a very good job of training and exposing other staff on how to handle a crisis.
I wonder what happened after you left. You supervisor had a staff who had no experience in how to handle a crisis. Not good!
Paul, he tried to get others to be involved and they would do so when he asked. The others for whatever reason just did not have or want to have the initiative that I had. After I left he moved onto the corporate office doing some good there. His replacement was not too successful, lots of drama finger pointing guys run out etc and lots of confusion as to why the team did not work well any longer. Some just can fix things more efficiently than others.
I’ve always been a firm believer in helping your manager be successful. This approach, jumping in and starting the fix before the manager even shared the situation, was genius. It sets you up for success, even if others think you’re a brown noser, chump or whatever they choose to call you. Their loss in the long run. Your gain.
Kudos, Roger! And Dan, what a great idea! So true, getting ahead means seeing trouble assignments as opportunities to excel and make your boss look good.
Dan,
Where there is a will there is a way!
I read the comment yesterday and thought he handled the situation well. Not everyone is programmed to think “outside the box” which is why the other employees hid from the supervisor instead of embracing the work. I try to anticipate the needs of my executive team and do “manage up” as best I can.
Lisa: Curious in your experience how do you help someone think outside the box if they don’t have that talent and for those you see that can “think outside the box” what attributes or training did they get along the way.?
One definition of insanity is when you do what you always did and expect something different to happen. Thinking outside the box is to suggest doing something you haven’t done before. There isn’t any inherent talent or attribute to look for or training you can give folks. What is needed is an environment that encourages creativity and innovation when solving problems. If the response to any creative or innovative idea is always some variation of “that’s just not how we do things around here”, you are never going to get “thinking outside of the box.” No matter how many trainings you send your folks to.
Jennifer: Thank you for that response, makes sense for me but I’ve found even when the environment is “ripe” and available for “out side the box thinking” that not everyone takes to it, almost as if you have the ability in you to move outside that box or you don’t. Maybe its generational, maybe a matter of maturity and age that takes one there?
Loved this anecdote … Roger, you’re story and your family history somehow all add up to serving others for me … Dan’s servant leadership comes from all sorts of places! Thanks for all the sharing and inspiration!
Thank You Carla, I am continuously looking back at the influences in my life, how those men and women set up attributes and response and passion within me. I have used those experiences and learnings to attempt to pass along to my now adult children and I do believe I have been successful. Have a Grateful Day we have a cold front coming in today to Palm Springs, only going to be 100F as a high (ha ha)
I became the “fixer” pretty early in my career, which lead to promotions and greater responsibility. Unfortunately, I became addicted to the adrenaline rush of solving problems. I’ve heard it called “hero syndrome” a few times.
Once I got into leadership roles, I realized I didn’t have the bandwidth to solve all the problems myself (or feed the answers to my team when they didn’t have them handy). That forced me to look for long-term solutions that would help to prevent occurrences of the problems. Training my team to look deeper than the problem at hand, they began solving root causes rather than just the immediate need. That way of working turned the entire team into superstars. Many have them have gone on to surpass my level of success, and I’m proud to have worked with them!