4 ms·

As someone who has difficulty asking this question to themselves: - Is anything I'm seeing similar to a previous effort that I under-performed in? - Do my own

As someone who has difficulty asking this question to themselves: - Is anything I'm seeing similar to a previous effort that I under-performed in? - Do my own expectations of success make sense if I weren't me? (would a random stranger agree with my goal criteria) - How different (currently) is the other person's expectations of success? In my current role does it make sense (for the project/customer) to try to change those?

ajb 5y ago
These are good. I've going to be difficult to make an exhaustive checklist as each of us will only have identified certain problems To a large extent it's about trying to see the issue from the other person's eyes, which has two parts: try to remove your context, and try to understand their context. Your context: it's easy to assume that someone else has the same information and motivations that you do, and understand the underlying strategy. But actually as a leader it's your responsibility to make sure all these are in place, one the one hand recruiting someone with the necessary background and motivations, and on the other making sure that they understand the strategy behind what the team needs to deliver and that the team shares and builds it knowledge. So look at all the things you are assuming - in the context of the problem - that they know or understand or are motivated by, and check whether they might be missing and what information, strategy, and incentives you might have failed to convey. You also need to look at your own behavior from the perspective of someone who doesn't have your context. If you saw someone acting as you are, without knowing why, what would you think? Then there is their context. They may come from a different cultural/class background. They might have different personal priorities. They may be at a different life stage. They may have less/more savings. They may need to take less/more risk. They may need different things as part of their career (for example, one boss I had assumed that 'working with famous person X' was a huge thing for me. Nope - well, it's cool and all but its not going on my CV, as an engineer. Whereas for a designer it's totally going on their CV). All these things play into what information a person will have, what they find motivating, what they find reasonable, what understanding they will have about you and what you are saying/how you are acting.

ajb 5y ago

These are good. I've going to be difficult to make an exhaustive checklist as each of us will only have identified certain problems To a large extent it's about trying to see the issue from the other person's eyes, which has two parts: try to remove your context, and try to understand their context. Your context: it's easy to assume that someone else has the same information and motivations that you do, and understand the underlying strategy. But actually as a leader it's your responsibility to make sure all these are in place, one the one hand recruiting someone with the necessary background and motivations, and on the other making sure that they understand the strategy behind what the team needs to deliver and that the team shares and builds it knowledge. So look at all the things you are assuming - in the context of the problem - that they know or understand or are motivated by, and check whether they might be missing and what information, strategy, and incentives you might have failed to convey. You also need to look at your own behavior from the perspective of someone who doesn't have your context. If you saw someone acting as you are, without knowing why, what would you think? Then there is their context. They may come from a different cultural/class background. They might have different personal priorities. They may be at a different life stage. They may have less/more savings. They may need to take less/more risk. They may need different things as part of their career (for example, one boss I had assumed that 'working with famous person X' was a huge thing for me. Nope - well, it's cool and all but its not going on my CV, as an engineer. Whereas for a designer it's totally going on their CV). All these things play into what information a person will have, what they find motivating, what they find reasonable, what understanding they will have about you and what you are saying/how you are acting.