This happened early in my management career. And, it’s a story that I share with others on occasion.
So, to set the background up, this happened a long time ago in a career far, far away. I was a partner in a consulting firm and we were beginning to grow. We had recently moved in to our own space and had begun to hire our first few employees. We had a set of clients that used us regularly and we continued to add new clients at a regular pace. The company was profitable and my partners and I were working hard to keep everything running smooth, our customers happy and our bills paid.
One of my hires, we’ll call him Tim, happened to be fairly fresh in to the game of programming, but he’d had a couple of years’ experience so I felt comfortable that he’d be able to handle moderately complex development assignments. I ended up assigning Tim to a smaller project associated with a system that we had already developed for one of our primary clients. The add-on was to be done in MS-Access. And, yes, at that point in time, MS-Access was a go to tool for small database work. The core system had already been developed and was being used by the Human Resources department. The add-on piece would allow them to track additional data associated with training that they provided their employees. This was critical to the HR department as the company was responsible for providing proof of training to several of their clients to keep contracts in place and active.
So, I assigned the new hire this add-on to the core system. I attended meetings with the client, along with Tim, and acted as the Project Manager for the development effort. We met with the client weekly to provide status reports and to get feedback from them on our development plans and activities. After a few weeks, it became apparent that Tim was struggling with the development and was not making the progress that was needed on the project.
After meeting with the client one afternoon, Tim and I headed back to the office. I knew it was time to address the situation and so when we arrived at the office, I asked Tim to meet me in the conference room. Tim knew I was agitated and he immediately became defensive. My mistake as a young manager was letting my emotion show through during the conversation. Instead of talking to Tim about the roadblocks he was facing and how we might overcome them, I made the mistake of attacking him.
Luckily, during the conversation we both realized we were not approaching the conversation the right way. It actually happened when he caught me between breaths and asked me, “What do you want me to do, quit?” He stopped me dead in my tracks. No, I didn’t want him to quit, I wanted him to do the job and I told him so. At that point, we began to backtrack and talk about the issues he was facing and what we needed to do to dig out of the hole.
Long story short, all he needed was some technical mentoring. I was so busy selling our services to new clients, attempting to PM projects and doing my own development tasks, that I forgot that I needed to reach down and help the next person up the ladder. I compounded my mistake by approaching Tim the wrong way and not giving him the opportunity to find a way forward.
Tim actually ended up being a fantastic team member. He was a hard worker and knew how to interact with clients. I’m glad that he stopped me during our conversation with his question before my emotions got the better of me.
Sometimes we need to realize that the people we’re dealing with don’t know how to succeed and it’s our job to show them. We can’t ask them to be perfect every minute of every day. Think back on the mistakes you’ve made in your career. If someone hadn’t extended a hand to you, would you be where you’re at today? The real nut is, are they learning from their mistakes. If they are – then mark it up as a win!
If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile
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