By Al Mills
If you are a seriously nerdy Star Trek fan you might recognize the title of this blog entry. It’s from the second season of the original Star Trek series and Captain Kirk is incapacitated while an inexperienced officer commands the Enterprise. Predictably, the inexperienced officer makes an absolute mess of things and the experienced Captain Kirk rushes to the bridge, and shows why his experience is so valuable. He diffuses the situation in moments, and the Enterprise escapes from harrowing circumstances, with crew and ship intact. OK, so the original series was written and produced in an era in which formulaic TV was the order of the day. Nonetheless, the message of the value of experience is clearly presented in these moments.
Experience gives individuals confidence that they can deal with situations they have faced before, and provides insight into new and novel situations. Even new circumstances can be less challenging when viewed through the lens of experience. Experience coupled with wisdom is an absolutely invaluable combination, and it does take time to develop.
When Captain Kirk is referring to a greenhorn, he is referring to an inexperienced and unseasoned leader. It’s not fair to expect that all new hires and new leaders would be endowed with experience and wisdom, but we can expect them to be teachable, humble, and determined.
Often, new and inexperienced leaders want to take the bull by the horns and dig in to their first project. This plays into an unfortunate tendency to micro-manage the people and details of a given project. It’s a pretty natural tendency, if you want to see something succeed then the best way to ensure it succeeds is to do it yourself. We all know the old adage; “If you want something done right…”
Sadly, this tendency contributes to leaders that must have their own way, and constantly want to monitor the details of a project. While it’s true that leaders must have a grip on the status of any project for which they are responsible, the constant need for full details creates an environment in which team members are devalued, and the leader has a limited ceiling of success because he does not allow team members to work toward their full potential. In essence, if a leader intends to micro-manage projects and teams, it becomes pointless to have qualified people on the team. If team members simply follow the detailed instructions of a leader, they won’t grow and develop and as we’ve previously mentioned, the team’s success becomes limited by the capacity of the leader.
Why is it new leaders, and some experienced leaders, turn to micro-management as a go-to for success? Mostly, it’s because they feel pressure to succeed from their upline, and we feel most in control when we are…well…in control.
Rather than feel that the best approach is increased control, leaders need to realize that the best approach for long-term success is the empowerment and development of team members. People flourish under leaders who trust them, and pour their wisdom and experience into them. Leaders, your job is to develop and empower! Even if you experience some growing pains, it’s OK, the long-term gain far outweighs the minor setbacks! And this is where experience comes to fruition…as a team member you already have experience as a doer, as a leader, it’s time to build experience by pouring wisdom and empowerment into your team members.
Al Mills is the lead consultant and founder of The Advantage Mill, a company dedicated to bringing out the best in the workplace. You can find the website at www.theadvantagemill.com.