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Or, as I like to refer to it, The Curse of Competence
Just Keep going until you have a burnout! Then they’ll learn!
Tap for spoiler
They won’t
In my neighborhood, I’m the backup for the backup DIY guy, but people are starting to see where I specialize in, so eventually I will start getting jobs that the others can’t do as well. Soon I will be the specialist for certain things.
This is why I turned down promotions.
Usually with their work, no less.
There is an old maximum of leadership that is:
“If you want something done give it to your busiest person”
And it is terrible. If you perform this kind of delegation, you have to expect that the other tasks will be shoved back on the priority list and the overall efficiency will decrease. This busy person will need more time overall for the sum of the tasks, because this kind of parallelization will make it harder to work on one task with focus. Also they will burn out eventually. But hey, that’s not management’s problem.
Who cares about the engineers caught in the crossfire or the lost efficiency, when Manager A can tell Manager B to shove it up theirs so they can show their N+1 a Very Important Project Milestone. That’s an end-of-year bonus right there (for them, not you).
A good manager protects their team from this bullshit. A successful manager actively sabotages the entire company by making sure they get all the prestigious projects and constantly derail everyone else into serving their personal interests.
The next stage in personal growth is to help others grow more competent and learn to delegate. That means you can then focus on the stuff only you can do.
At least that’s what I’m learning.
That’s called “doing management’s job”
That requires people who are willing/able to learn. I have put together so many documents detailing a procedure with clear instructions and screenshots and still have coworkers who can’t figure it out. Hell, the number of people who can’t run a goddamned script to do it for them ( also with instructions and pictures!!) is also too goddamned high!
Been there too. The advantage of writing the document though is that it means you can point people to it at least.
Yeah, but you and I both know you’re still going to be holding their hand 30-40% of the time anyway…
Better than 100% at least, I guess.
Same. in my case I have soooo much documentation it overwhelms everyone. Every day it’s always something new so it keeps growing.
On one hand, fair.
On the other hand, this is what the real skill of leadership is - getting people to care.
I refer to this as “the curse of competence”
I used to think I was an idiot, that everyone around me knew what they were doing and I didn’t.
Later I joined the work force and I now I kind of wish I was an idiot because no one seems to know what they’re doing and that is existentially dreadful.
