Of the twenty bad habits that senior managers have, according to Marshal Goldsmith, twenty things that they do that hold them back, I have fessed up to three of them. I have re-evaluated that up to four. They are listed in his excellent book ‘What got you here won’t get you there.’ I have already described how I succumbed to the need to demonstrate how clever I am in a previous blog but this time I wanted to address another of my failings – the need to add too much value, or the overwhelming desire to add my two cents to every discussion. That’s me that is.
I don’t want to be involved in everything, just those things that I find interesting, yet there are so many things of interest out there that my eyes and ears are always flitting to the next best thing. As a Guerrilla Worker I am always out and about, gaining an understanding, chipping away and being involved. I convince myself that I am being helpful yet I am just sticking my nose in business that is not really mine.
Sometimes I do help but now I recognise that this is not always the case. Perhaps this is an example of the control freakery that I deny I suffer from. I have no desire to control people yet my actions tell a different truth. I am a senior manager and get involved in those things which I find interesting which, therefore, must be important. I control through interference in that I send the clear signal that only those things I am involved in are of value.
I need to get back behind the line and focus on those things where my skills are needed rather than unwanted. More helpful and less meddling, more mindful even.
I have put ‘going to meetings that I don’t need to go to’ on my stop list.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 