Letting Go
by Miki SaxonOne of the most important things you learn if you want to be a great boss is how to let go.
Whether it’s to avoid wasting resources on projects going nowhere or removing someone who is damaging the team you need to know how to let go.
Why is letting go so difficult?
Because letting go is an emotional act as opposed to a rational analysis.
The unwillingness to let go is anchored in your MAP (the link goes to a blueprint of how to change it).
Letting go is very similar to those team building exercises, variations of which have been around for decades, such as the one where you fall backwards from a height trusting your team to catch you.
It’s scary, not because you’re up that high, but because it requires real trust and the result is outside of your control.
Letting go is like that.
There are three basic steps to letting go.
- You need to trust that the people around you are giving you straight information with no hidden agendas.
- Analyze the information and accept that at that point the failure of the person, version or even entire project is outside of your control.
- Accept that no matter how good you are you won’t always be right. After all, Home Depot had Robert Nardelli and Steve Jobs had Lisa and Newton.
Flickr image credit: Shawn Rossi