Origins
In
Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby, it was foretold that he would die
young. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx,
which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into
the water. But as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed
over by the water of the magical river. Achilles grew up to be a man of war who
survived many great battles. But one day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was
lodged in his heel, killing him shortly after.
In
the workplace
We
use 'Achilles Heel' in the workplace as a metaphor for the single most critical
weakness that will likely prove to be one's downfall. Unlike Achilles, we are
in a position to assist one another and our staff to identify our 'Achilles
Heel' and therefore remedy that otherwise fatal weakness.
Listed
below, are some of those fatal weaknesses that I have observed as somewhat
recurring patterns in the IT professional arena. The more able we are to
recognize these issues in others, or ourselves, the faster and more effectively
we will be able to help start to work through a remedy.
Go
to the icebox, get the cheese
This
challenge exists where people are only willing to take on tasks where others
lay out the steps, and even then, they do not think through the steps and apply
energy to ensure that the desired result is achieved. This can result from a
combination of being lazy, undisciplined, unengaged and entitled.
It is
our challenge to engage others, not in the steps, but the outcome, then, no
matter what level of instructions are offered, they will undertake to ensure
that the steps they follow are complete, accurate and coherent and truly engineered
to deliver the intended result.
You
didn't ask me that
This
challenge if very similar to the previous one. If the individual is not vested
in what is ultimately trying to be achieved, then they will only think hard
enough to meet the minimum criteria towards satisfying the question. This is a
far cry from giving a thoughtful and complete answer, which is still short for
first understanding the context for the question and what the ultimate
objective is, and then giving and answer that is truly intended to ensure the
objective is meet.
Again,
it is our challenge to engage others, not in merely giving an answer, but
taking ownership in a successful outcome, therefore endeavoring to truly be of
assistance with an explanation that we support the intended outcome.
I
don't have an issue
This
perspective presents a huge challenge because it presents a "you can't get
there from here" paradox. What happens is, largely due to insecurities and
lack of trust, the individual is totally unreceptive to constructive criticism.
This lack of receptivity creates a total impasse in terms of growing and
evolving, let alone quickly resolving critical issues in terms of behaviors and
skills.
It is
up to us to go through the steps to forge trust to a degree that level of trust
will override the insecurity trigger response to become defensive and shut down
all receptivity in others. This takes time and effort, there is not shortcut,
as pushing harder, or even threatening will only heighten the very barriers
that we need to address first.
'Tunnel
vision' and 'target fixation'
'Tunnel
vision' (the issue of maintaining too narrow a perspective, and therefore not
being able to see the full spectrum of opportunities) and 'target fixation'
(the issue of fixing our vision on an obstacle, as if in terror, and thereby
constraining our ability to see the way around the obstacle) are very similar
issue. This is a result from a lack of experience where an individual has
self-identified this challenge and/or a reluctance to employ the measure needed
to address it.
We need
to help others recognize their tendency towards this sort of issues and how to
invoke the discipline of stepping back from the challenge, gaining a fresh
perspective, and perhaps collaborating with others to break out of our tunnel
or target. If we truly wish to excel, and not be impaired by this challenge,
then we should be willing to do whatever we have to do to overcome it.
I
don't need to take notes
You can
easily cleave and group of people into two by nearly any criteria. For example,
in a meeting, you can easily identify those that are more mature and successful
by the fact that not only are they are taking notes, but the way they are
taking not that is oriented towards actions such as, information I need to
relay, commitment I need to follow-up on, something I need to learn more about
and so on.
When we
are conveying information to peers and staff, unless they have been endowed
with the gift of an eidetic memory, they should be taking notes, especially
where action is needed. This is a result of a lack of discipline, maturity,
responsibility, engagement and ownership plus a lack of pride and sense of
commitment. We need to help others recognize that issues occur as a result of
their shortcoming in this regard, and that is not acceptable, but even more so,
from a personal sense of pride, don't they want to show up as a top notch
professional that is full engaged and ready to absolutely deliver?
Single
threaded
Even
many of our individual contributors no longer have the luxury of single
threading their tasks. We all need to employ the discipline of some sort of a
task list, maintaining it and applying our efforts appropriately throughout
each and every day based on what is on our list. The only thing that varies
with seniority is the size and complexity of our task list and the further
challenge that our day is sliced into greater slices of smaller bits of time
that we still need to effectively apply to our task list.
This
challenge is related to the previous one in the sense that you must first
establish a task list and properly record tasks. But it in this case, we need
to help people understand how they can apply various techniques to ensure that
they do not become solely absorbed in a single task without properly designing
how they are going to attack their task list. This is definitely an issue of
discipline and maturity. As we move through our career, if we have not already
learned to multi-task, we will have some long-lived habits to overcome via a
daily planning exercise, with that plan revisited whenever new factors arise
throughout the day.
'I
sent them an email' and 'I tried'
These
scenarios are not uncommon, and a bit not unlike 'you did not ask me that' in
that there is minimal effort applied just to the point that an individual
believes they now have a valid excuse to not have worked any harder. But these
excuses are far short of success, and success is measured in a binary manner (i.e.,
you either were, or were not successful, nothing in between).
We need
to help people understand that these sorts of postures on any task reflect a
lack of maturity, integrity and are totally unacceptable. We need to help them
understand just how pathetic this sort of response is, and that is illustrates
either an unwillingness or inability to think around even the most trivial
obstacle…. Is that really what they mean to project about themselves as IT
professionals?
It's
not my job
This
attitude is infuriating to the mature IT professional because we know that it
is all, all of our job, to be successful together. There is no being successful
on our own. There is nothing wrong with holding others accountable for their
part, but we cannot stand by and predict, or even observe their failure in the
meantime.
We have
to help them see this big picture, but we have to manifest it in our everyday
practices by celebrating success together and also bearing the weight of our
failures as a team, and holding those accountable, who had the
responsibilities, or had the opportunity to help ensure success, and did not do
so.
Shinny
Ball
Many of
us lean in one direction or the other, towards the routine, or that which is
new and different. Whether we are distracted by the new shinny ball, and do not
fulfill our routine duties, or whether gravitate towards that which is known
and comfortable, instead of conquering that which is unknown, in either case,
this gets back to discipline, maturity, and work prioritization.
Regardless
of your preferences, we probably all have parts of our job that we really love,
and parts that we do not enjoy so much, yet, we have to find the strength to
get it all done properly and on time. Anything short of this is a failure, and
if we recognize this, then we are likely on our way towards applying the
discipline necessary to avoid this sort of failure.
Promises,
Promises…
We so
often find reluctance towards making a promise, recognizing that the needs to
be a commitment made or even worse, not realizing that a promise is implied,
and therefore, failure is imminent.
We need
to help other to recognize how this occurs and how they not only can, but must,
negotiate till they are setup for success, and then absolutely positively
deliver on that deal.
Problems
don't get better with time!
WIFM
All
of this depends first, on our ability to identify the issue(s), and secondly,
our skill to help others recognize it in themselves and to see value in
addressing those issues. The question of WIFM (what's in it for me) must be
answered or there will be no effort applied towards a resolution. A mature
professional will more likely recognize the issue more readily and also see the
value of the remedy on their own. A less mature individual, or someone who is
challenged with 'I do not have an issue' will have a harder time arriving upon
the Ah-Ha moment and may also have a harder time seeing enough value in the
remedy versus the effort that it will take to affect that remedy. This is part
of our challenge.
WAC'em
My department's management team has read 'The Power of Positive Confrontation' together. From that book, we
have learned how to more effectively deliver a constructive criticism. Armed
with that skill, and the greater clarity of the classic 'Achilles Heels' that
most commonly challenge our staff in their ability to be the top notch
professionals that they all have the potential to be, it is incumbent upon each
of us to more quickly and effectively identify these issues, clearly and directly
WAC'em, and then coach, mentor and guide them through to remedy.
