April 1st, 2018

A rant.

At a meeting got a comment from a peer. The comment showed me that he is already thinking of himself as a manager. Possibly my manager. :)

He asked me if I need a help from one of the guys in his team. I have asked why as the topic was completely unrelated to them.
So, the answer was: "I heard that they have helped you with a similar problem"

This alerted me because this is a perfect example trying to "connect the dots on a higher level".
Something that some people thing is a crucial part of being a manager. After all, the more people you manage, the less details you get into, right?

The only problem was that this was the exact opposite of what happened. I have helped somebody from his team with a completely unrelated problem.
In his mind, his team is the best, thus they should do the helping part and without going into details, the problem seemed similar. Both were somewhat related to performance.

So, instead of connecting the dots at a higher level, he tried to set me on a completely incorrect path. If he were my manager, I would be obliged to follow it for some time, just to be able to report that I have tried it. Instead of helping, this connection would block me.

This is the small thing that makes huge difference. You should connect the dots on a higher level as a manager, but you should dive into details and connect the correct dots. Otherwise, you will lead yourself to nowhere.