When I first stepped into a management role, I read a bunch of books and articles about being a manager. One of those was “Becoming the Boss” by Linda A. Hill, published in Harvard Business Review. The bit of that article that I have always remembered was this story, in a sidebar entitled “Oh, One More Thing: Create the Conditions for Your Success”:
A new marketing manager at a telecommunications company whom I’ll call John Delhorne discovered that his predecessor had failed to make critical investments, so he tried on numerous occasions to convince his immediate superior to increase the marketing budget. He also presented a proposal to acquire a new information system that could allow his team to optimize its marketing initiatives. When he could not persuade his boss to release more money, he hunkered down and focused on changes within his team that would make it as productive as possible under the circumstances. This course seemed prudent, especially because his relationship with his boss, who was taking longer and longer to answer Delhorne’s e-mails, was becoming strained.
When the service failed to meet certain targets, the CEO unceremoniously fired Delhorne because, Delhorne was told, he hadn’t been proactive. The CEO chastised Delhorne for “sitting back and not asking for his help” in securing the funds needed to succeed in a critical new market. Delhorne, shocked and hurt, thought the CEO was being grossly unfair. Delhorne contended it wasn’t his fault that the company’s strategic-planning and budgeting procedures were flawed. The CEO’s response: It was Delhorne’s responsibility to create the conditions for his success.
[https://hbr.org/2007/01/becoming-the-boss]
The story has stuck with me because my first reaction was the same as Delhorne’s: it seems unfair to blame him for problems he didn’t create.
Having chewed on this quite a bit — and having gained some experience (and mentorship) as a leader — there’s an important point here. It’s a point about responsibility, ownership, and what it means to lead. And it applies not just to “bosses”, but to anyone who is a leader, formally or informally.
We are all, at times, faced with circumstances that we didn’t create but which seem to limit our effectiveness. It’s easy, when something is “not our fault”, to feel like it’s not our responsibility to fix it. Indeed, we may not know how. We may be tempted, instead, to blame others for creating the problem in the first place, or to passively wait for others to address it.
But being a leader means (among other things) taking responsibility — for our organization’s success, for our team’s success, and for our own success. Sometimes that means doing other people’s dishes. Sometimes it means pushing back on work you don’t have time for, so that you can provide solid estimates and deliver your most important projects on time. Sometimes it means figuring out how to improve your relationship with a difficult colleague (or boss!) who is impeding your work.
Of course, there will be problems that you can’t solve yourself. It’s fine to loop in a manager or colleague who can help you. The point isn’t to do it yourself. The point is to take ownership, instead of pointing fingers or letting important problems go unsolved. (Not every battle has to be fought, of course.)
Everyone has times in their careers (and lives) where they are trying to take action, but feel stymied or disempowered by others, or by the systems in which they are operating. (In the quoted story, John Delhorne was likely in that position.) This is tricky, because impossible situations do exist. However, many of us have a tendency to feel less empowered than we actually are. For folks with this tendency, a key challenge on the road to senior levels or leadership positions is to figure out how to tap into healthy empowerment. (Some people have the opposite problem, and are all too good at using and abusing their power. This advice is not for them.)
So if you find yourself in a situation where it feels like circumstances outside of your control are limiting your effectiveness, take a close look. Is there a way for you to take ownership and improve the situation? Are hidden assumptions or old beliefs getting in the way of taking action? Have you sought out mentorship or coaching? (An outside perspective is often very useful.)
Impossible situations do exist — but as a leader, you must begin with the assumption that the present situation is workable. Take responsibility, and create the conditions for your own (and your organization’s) success.