S was my manager almost a decade ago. He wasn’t someone one could get along with at first go. Rather, that was my first impression based on a brusque conversation between my Bombay self and his Delhi self, long distance.
Looking back, I know I was projecting my experiences with a terrible manager just before this that had left me depleted and drained, no trust left in my system.
S and I hit it off well quite early on, so it is a happy story. But I am not here to tell you that story today.
Rather, I am here to tell you about a bunch of things I still emulate from my time with S, a paltry three years, because his is the perfect playbook of people management.
Tiger who: Some people managers are spoken about with veneration - They are a tiger / tigress protecting their cubs, rising up at the first instance of injustice, perceived or otherwise; shielding their kids (who are full grown adults actually) from the evils of the world, and arriving at the scene always to save them from bad actors. S, on the other hand, was very far from that. He was an adult who treated his team members like the adults we were. ‘Sure, come and discuss with me if there’s a problem, particularly a people related one, be them our own or a client. I will give you some suggestions on how to deal with it, if it truly merits being dealt with and not simply unwarranted drama from your side. Try dealing with it on your own. If it doesn’t succeed, I will step in.’
Locked and secure: In this world of people trying to be everywhere showing off everything, S would say, “You have worked on it and you understand it best. So, please present it. I will be on the side to support if needed.” I have had many a moment with senior clients who found me indispensable for the work I was doing thanks to S being his secure self.
Slack not: For all the talk of ‘do your own stuff and stand before the client to take credit’, S was no free rider himself. He knew the details, the nuts and bolts, and was a constant sounding board from behind. While he was making himself dispensable at his own role, he was also getting ready for his next role by becoming indispensable at an elevated level. Quite ambitious that way.
Feed, teach etc.: Feed a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime. I know, I know. Heavily overused trope. But valuable lessons for the corporate world. S would teach, teach more, and teach some more yet again. Not for him the shortcut of “it’s faster if I do it than actually sitting to tell you how to do it”, because remember, he was trying to make himself dispensable at the current role so he could get to his own next role. And how would that plan work if he kept doing everything himself?
It’s simple enough when written out like that in four bullet points but quite complex to execute.
How do we let go of the insecurities we have of our high performing reportees? How do we take the leap to give more agency to our teams, making ourselves dispensable, assuming that we can employ all that time saved in more gainful, higher pursuits?
How do we build trust in ourselves so much that all this can actually be implemented?
One example don’t maketh a pattern, I know. But what I saw in S is what I see in bits and pieces or in whole amongst the many successful people managers and people leaders around me. Perhaps, there’s something to it then.
P. S. Views strictly personal. None of the events mentioned in this post refer to the organisation that I am currently associated with.