Setting People Up for Success

In an age when so much of our business focus is on our last great success, I wonder what has happened to the individual in the process.

You see, I am a big believer in people. I’ve given speeches and written articles on It’s All about People. I’ve even named this blog with that handle.

When I have been charged with the management of individuals my first thought has always been “what can I do to help make you a success?”

It still is. That is why I write and speak along these lines.  I want to help people become better at what they do. I desire to provide the right tools, the thorough training, and the proper mental stimulation they need.

The bottom line is that I want to set people up for success, not failure.

I once worked for a manager who held his cards close to his vest. By the time I came to work for him I had worked in three other divisions within the same company. I had learned a few things, most of which was that each manager for whom I worked had their own slant on certain aspects of the job and the paper work.

It seemed that for the first month I did more to irritate my new manager than I did to enhance our working relationship. For instance, in the nightly paper work, I arranged and stapled the documents in the same way I did in my previous assignment. Mark, my new manager, had his own peculiar ways and order in which he wanted the paper work done.

One morning, in a rather stern tone, he pretty much raked me over the coals for not follow “proper procedure” as he put it. All I had been doing was performing in the way I had been allowed in three other departments, yet they did not match up to his particular way of doing things. He did not properly set me up for success.

How can you set your people up for success? Do you have rigid rules and guidelines and do you communicate them in a fair and clear way? Do you have a proper training program for every person and every job that matters in your organization? Do you want your people to succeed?

Set your people up for success. Give them training, guidelines, samples of the correct procedures that you want followed.

And above all, choose your battles. Not everything is a major skirmish. What is important? What is necessary and what is nice to have but not going to break the business if it is not followed to the letter?

Set your people up for success.