Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days, suggests that the actions taken in the first three months of a new role largely determine whether someone succeeds or fails in the long term.
If that’s true, then I was a lucky exception.
Still failing after six months
I didn’t mean to be difficult. But after six months of repeatedly asking my boss Harold (not his real name), “How much should I charge for this proposal?”, he’d had enough.
I wrote a lot of proposals, and I’d nailed all the sections except pricing.
It wasn’t deliberate.
One day I went into his office with my usual pricing question. Harold looked at me with frustration, put his pen down rather too loudly on his desk, and said, clearly irritated:
Look, you really should be able to do this by now.
Somehow, despite my embarrassment, I replied:
But I have no idea how you do it. It’s like magic.
A blind spot, not a lack of intelligence
Looking back, it’s almost endearing. But what mattered was what he did next.
He took me metaphorically by the hand and showed me, step by step, how he worked it out. It was so simple it’s now a little cringeworthy.
He explained that he would:
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break the project into its component parts
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estimate how long each part would take
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multiply that by the hourly rate of the person doing it
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add it all up
That was it.
Harold had been doing this for so long he could glance at a project and know what to charge. I got there too, eventually. But only after creating a simple spreadsheet that anyone, even a new starter, could use.
Two clever people doing dumb things
This is a classic example of clever people doing dumb things.
Me, because I didn’t think to ask how he was working it out. Worse, I didn’t even try. I froze. I felt ashamed. And it was easier to let him tell me.
Harold, because he assumed I already knew. Or that I’d be like others before me who somehow managed to work it out on their own.
Neither of us was incompetent. There was simply a gap.
Sometimes all people need is a little help to close it. To join the dots that feel obvious to you but are genuinely opaque to someone else, at least until they understand how.
The leadership task: identify the blind spot
Your job as a leader is to notice those gaps, then work out how best to help people close them.
It was painful for Harold to endure my not knowing. But he was delighted when I came to him next time with a complete proposal in hand, pricing included, along with a spreadsheet showing how I’d worked it out.
All he had to do was check my assumptions. From then on, it was quick and easy.
Then shine a light on it
If you’re leading someone who is clearly capable but keeps getting stuck in the same places, don’t assume laziness, resistance, or a lack of ability.
Ask yourself:
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what might they not be seeing?
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what knowledge have I internalised without realising it?
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what would help them join the dots?
Even if you feel you shouldn’t have to do this, and I’ve worked with many leaders who feel that frustration, Harold’s experience suggests it’s often well worth it.
And speaking from experience, they’ll probably be grateful for it too.
Image by Robert Fotograf from Pixabay
