I like to be in charge. Not much of a revelation that. I generally have an idea of where we should be going and how we should get there. I like to make sure all the details are ‘right’. The best way to be sure things are done correctly is to do it yourself; right?
Therefore I really do understand when someone else has the same mindset. I do. It just kills me to have to be one of the ‘Indians’ and not the ‘Chief’.
Oh! Oh! Short funny story. Years ago I called tech support for a prepaid cell phone. The girl on the other end, speaking in heavily accented English, was just about zero help. I finally said to her “That’s alright, honey. I need a Chief and you’re just an Indian.” Her reply: “No, ma’am! I am in Argentina.”
Dum dum, dum.
You might have to be a Yank to get that, but I thought it was hilarious.
Caught me totally of guard.
End detour.
Having to be a team member and not a team leader is the topic. Sometimes it even happens that you think you are on the team but the leader is doing 95% of the work. Been there?
I looked online for ideas of how to step back graciously. Found some stuff in thebalance.com about leaders teaching and bowing to the expertise of others. Good stuff but not exactly appropriate to my situation.
The balance.com also had some stuff about when to take a voluntary demotion. That was what you would expect: when you are ignoring other areas of your life, developing stress related illnesses or cannot keep up because of impairments, etc. Again good stuff but not quite the ticket.
The one on ways of handling an involuntary demotion came closer. Michael Roberts points out a ‘demotion’ does not have to be the first step on your way down. It may be your are no longer on the proper staircase. You need to step back to the common landing and go up the other way.
Roberts suggests assessing what happened. Was it mostly performance factors or the situation? Since I really did not even have a chance to show my ‘stuff’ on this project, I would say it was the situation in my case. Another time it could easily be performance. Expect me to do a job with a heavy vision load? Not happening. Roberts also suggested you look for the lessons. What did you do wrong? What signs did you miss that things were going awry? You should be better prepared the next time.
Adjusting your budget does not count in my situation. This is a volunteer project. If you are seeing your work slipping or getting more supervision than normal in your job, consider AMD is having an effect, may have more of an effect in the future and you NEED to look at finances.
Next to last one listed was do a good job where you are now. There is no benefit in fighting for the lead on this project. In a few weeks it will be completed successfully. I have found a few things I have been ‘allowed’ to do ? and I am doing them well. Whenever I hear something mentioned I can do, I volunteer and get it done.
Last suggestion was to re-evaluate career goals. In this case that means I need to recognize I am not free to run around and get everything done. I don’t drive any more. However, I am still great at brainstorming and I hang a mean advertising flyer!
In short, I don’t have to be in charge to contribute. No matter how much it kills me!