be dispensible

I had a revealing conversation with a friend last week.   

He is a very successful fellow that I have known for a long time.  We are good friends in the typically strange long tail A-type to long tail A-type way.   

He recently was away for a longish break.  When he returned, he was a little sad. 

When we were talking he confessed, "all of the problems we had at the office got solved  -- WITHOUT ME!" 

He told me he felt useless, unnecessary. 

I commensurated with him, good friend that I am. 

Fortunately my brain eventually got working, and I realized what he was describing was not a tragedy but a triumph. 

He had selected his staff well, he had trained his staff well.  Why would he expect that they would, when forced to, make decisions that would be contrary to his trained in values? 

His team only got to 'shine' when he was forced to withdraw.   

What would the situation look like from their point of view?  He makes all the decisions, he must not trust me, he must think I'm stupid.   

I can imagine that working for him would be frustrating. 

But the truth was his need to make all the decisions wasn't any comment on the competence of his staff, it was a symptom of his need to feel important and useful, at the center of things and in control.   

Hording authority in order to assure himself that he was 'indespensible'.  "I must be brilliant, look at how much I am needed around here". 

Many offices, homes, soccer teams, whatever, work like this.  Someone with the authority hordes it to insulate themselves. 

My friend failed to realize that his greatest contribution, what makes him needed the most, is not serving as a decision bottleneck, but to build up his people so they can be extensions of his values and if I may be so bold, his will. 

Without being even aware of it, he had done just that and his people delivered.   

Being a leader doesn't mean you must be strapped to plow pulling the inconsequential team along for a ride.  You can get far more done, leverage your abilities, and spend less time in the field plowing, if you focus on developing that team of people.   

Your insight, your wisdom and judgement are best applied to new situations, challenges and opportunities.  Your skills can best be leveraged by ensuring your team can handle, on their own, as much as possible. 

If you want to get done what you want done, if you want to achieve the goals that you set out, if you want things done your 'way' - consider this - you can success by making yourself 'Dispensible'.