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March 27, 2005
Responsibility without Authority
I don't remember when, exactly, I realized it - but some time, a handful of years ago, I realized that a necessary but insufficient condition for being successful in any position is having authority over the things one has responsibility for.
It was hammered home this week, when a direct report gave notice that he's leaving the company.
I always considered this individual my peer, not my subordinate - he really shouldn't have been reporting to me, but it just worked out that way. I've really enjoyed working with him, and I'll miss his enthusiasm and optimism. And I hate to see smart people leave.
But what's really eating me up is the feeling that I let him down.
The grievances that led to his resignation were well known and legitimate. He and I had discussed them a number of times over the past 6 months, and I'd escalated a number of them to my manager and to the CTO. I'd talked to HR to try and work out some creative solutions - but ultimately, I failed to fix the problem, and an excellent engineer, and a damn good person, decided his best option was to abandon ship.
I think I know, in my logical mind, that I did everything I could - everything I had authority over; but it wasn't enough. I was responsible for getting roadblocks out of his way so he could succeed, and I wasn't able to.
What's even more disturbing is I can't say his complaints were baseless - or even wrong-headed - and he was complaining about some fairly fundamental dysfunctions in the organization. Not sure what that means, yet. But I have a sneaking suspicion when I figure it out, I'm not going to like it.
Posted by dberger at March 27, 2005 10:03 PM
Comments
Welcome to the machine, my friend. I have been working through this issue in my last two jobs at least. And I'm going through it big time right now. :)
I have realized that the only things I can do are:
1) Do everything within my given power
2) Don't be afraid to say what's right
3) Escalate sooner, escalate often
These things don't always work, of course - but it will absolve you of at least SOME of the guilt and helplessness that comes along with the situation.
And when all else fails - just think of the guitar show. ;)
PS - something is weird with MT - it ignores carriage returns/linefeeds completely. Sorry this is so hard to read.
Posted by: Scott Snyder at March 28, 2005 11:05 AM
Okay, the weirdness is only in Previewing your post. The post shows up fine.
Posted by: Scott Snyder at March 28, 2005 3:39 PM
Not your fault, buddy.
Remember that short of "authority over everything", you're never going to be able to get all the roadblocks out of someone's way. The best that you can do for those things that can't/won't change is to look for workarounds where possible and not hold your staff responsible for things they can't do because of the blockers. Most importantly, being supportive ("the big brother") during those times means that even if you lose him now, he'll remember that you were cool about it. The tech world is small -- you're bound to work with him again if he's bright and he's bound to want to work with you if he remembers that you made a genuine effort to make a bad situation right.
At my last shop, I had to see my team go from 7 to 2 to 1. I keep in touch with almost all of them. I think most of my team would join me again if I asked. (Of the two exceptions, one has a story that requires a lot of alcohol.. and you know how much I drink. The other never quite accepted that moving him to another group kept him employed in a time when the market was seriously tanking. *sigh*)
Posted by: Steve S. at March 29, 2005 7:59 AM