the real litmus test

So the story goes something like this: you feed the chickens, you raise the chickens, you take the chickens to market, you get the best price for those organic chickens. And when you have understood that, then you have mastered the concept of ownership.

I am generally reluctant to hand over the ownership of key issues to certain members of my project team, not because they are in capable of doing the work but because they are unable to take accountability for every little aspect of the problem. Although I also do realise that this is the litmus test for them, so every now and again I nudge a certain person in that direction and while I am not pushing them off a cliff to see if they can fly, I know they can't, I am slowly attempting to cut that cord.

Today I had to pick up the pieces of a simply process that had not been thought through, I had watched the solution develop quietly in the background but as soon as the first exception reared its ugly head the baffled process owner quietly went into hiding. I then had to try to unbundle the problem and find a solution, which was not the hardest thing to do once I wrapped my mind around what was going wrong. But I was annoyed because I was owning something that I wanted to have very little to do with except to pay tribute to the person for a job well done.

I remember the first time that I saw "mentorship in action," I was indirectly part of a very large property development team, and we were at the monthly project meeting, which had approximately 20 other people from various disciplines - engineers, architects, contractors and sub-contractors in attendance.

The meeting was run by a young woman which in itself was a major feat, tis a patriarchal society after all and in the field of construction management this is extremely pronounced, but this young project manager had a wise old man in her corner.

After the meeting begun she proceeded to run through the previous minutes without any problems, before getting into why we were running behind schedule, and then the blame mongering began, but just as soon as it started, the wise old man firmly took charge and reset the tone.

As soon as order was restored the young woman continued and an hour later everybody was once again aligned. In that short period the young project manager had grown exponentially, all she now had to do was ensure that the commitment ascertained translated into the appropriate timely action.

I am not sure how the story ended because I left the company before the development, now known as Century City, was completed but I do remember that meeting. And I also do try to do the same for my team members but sadly like today not all of them succeed.