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by quotient
4286 days ago
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Your package-sorting and medical-record facility examples strike me as pure gold. I wasn't sold at first, but you seem like a great team leader. As another person wrote, you seem to really understand the essence of effective leadership. This sounds like a really good approach. One question: have you ever had subordinates/employees for whom your approach didn't work? |
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To your question: Yes, absolutely. But that's part of being a leader (and hopefully growing) I've failed people. Royally fucking failed them. There was one in particular that at the time I blamed and I feel horrible about it now. I mean, every time I talk to a mutual friend or bump into him in the community I just feel terrible inside. I hope he reads this. I've tried to buy him a beer so I can apologize but he doesn't want to go. I sympathize. If I were him I'd hate me too. The best thing I can do is just learn and grow.
In the military I learned that no soldier is "untrainable", meaning if they aren't performing you aren't leading them right. Heh, and everyone thinks it's all about yelling and top down control.
I've spent the past several years as an Agile Coach. I started out as a developer but I was so sick of how programmers were treated by management. The way we manage software teams in most of the IT industry is demonstrably insane. It makes me sick. Perhaps it's just that these days I often get called in to work with the worst of the worst.
We treat programers like they should be at their sewing machines for x hours a day, we measure them on everything except working software, and as they say "the beatings will continue until moral improves".
Isn't it interesting how part of the thread immediately jumped to an expression of the pain programmers feel when they have to attend company "team building" functions? Why? Why don't we recognize why as Jason Fried asks "work doesn't get done at work", or "manager time vs. maker time", or the power of introverts? What about this WHY DON'T WE EXPECT MANAGERS BEHAVE LIKE LEADERS??? Why when we talk about leaders don't we envision SERVANT LEADERS? Why does every interaction with HR or Community Managers have to be so damn cringe worthy? Why can't things be real, honest, meaningful, trusting? Sorry for the tirade. It's just insane and it bothers me, because I love developers. They're amazing people who just want to make the world a better place.
Edit: Grammar