BlessUP Duplicate Monday, business soul friends!
In “The Project Phoenix,” we are introduced to the infamous bottleneck, Brent, a stellar engineer with rockstar skills who can get things done yet introduces a major problem in a team setting: he literally does everything. Brent has become everybody’s life-saver, the ultimate problem solver most departments escalate their challenges to. And while it’s great that Brent is able to address crises quickly, he creates a new problem every time he jumps in as he inadvertently enforces a culture of dependency and widens the knowledge gap within his team.
In any professional setting, strive not to embody the traits of a “Brent.” Consider the impact on our team when a key individual like Brent takes an extended leave.
As Seniors, we should be capable of winning our own tasks with little to no dependency on other people. We should not just wait for others to feed us information, we must take the initiative to get what we need ourselves. When we lead the integration of a new custom work, we must initiate duplication too. Even though we’re not leaders in the title, we have self-leadership within us that we can proactively use so we don’t become “Brent” ourselves. When a challenge arises, we don’t want all user stories to be waiting on us, anybody on our team should be able to handle anything with quality and speed.
Likewise, as leaders, we should empower our team members to take ownership of their roles and become self-reliant problem solvers. Leadership is not doing all the work for our team. It’s all about duplication and delegation, training the people in our team to become the next leaders that they can be.
As Ms. Sheryl Sandberg once said:
Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.
So look within. What else are you not able to fully handle on your own without your others’ guidance? What do you need so you can be more self-reliant in your role?
If you’re a leader, what do you always end up doing on your team’s behalf that they should already be able to handle on their own? What do you need to do to ensure that your absence doesn’t cause a void but instead, fosters growth and self-sufficiency?
In the spirit of “The Project Phoenix” and the wisdom of Ms. Sheryl Sandberg, let’s make our presence transformative and our absence enduring.
Here’s to a future where we all rise as leaders and make a lasting impact together!
Until I SEE YOU again,
Be a Sharer.
A.B.D
Always be duplicating.
Always be delegating.
BlessUP 🙏
– Necta
