Tend the roots

I have a little bamboo stick that has been growing on a small vase with some stones at the bottom of it. Roots have been growing around the rocks and rocks were almost part of the bamboo. Recently some of the leaves were becoming yellow. So I just pulled that leaf off and keep only the yellow ones. I also noticed that the level of water on the vase was not going down giving me the hint that the plant was not using the water. After I had pulled many leaves and noticing that the water was not going down for over two weeks, I thought I need to check deeper.
So I poured out the water from the vase and I smelled a bad smell. Hmm... If I was a plant and that was my water, I wouldn't be happy. So I put new water on the vase and thought this will now change things. Nope... there was still that smell and the water didn't look clean. So I decided to pull the plant out of that vase and into a new one. Because the rocks were so much into the roots, was hard to get the plant out, but I managed. What I noticed was: The rocks seemed a bit slimy and some of the roots were gray instead of light brown. Took the rocks off, cleaned the plant and the roots and put it into a new vase. Washed the rocks but did not put them back into the new vase. Even after washing them with soap, they stunk. The plant seemed to show signs of happiness and the roots started changing color to light brown.

As a person that runs an organization or leads a group of people, don't stop looking at the surface when you notice something is not right. If there are unhappy people (like the yellow leaves) removing them will not fix the issue. Those people are the ones that give you the insight that there is something to be taken care and you are the one that needs to get your hands to "dirty water" and do what needs to be done.
"Rocks" or those people we consider solid and strong/foundational CAN be a problem. When they stay on your organizations for a long time, doing the same thing, not looking horizontally to other skills to grow, they "rotten" and start creating that toxic environment that might kill the new ideas that want to grow. Be mindful of your rocks, move them around so they can see other perspectives, they do not effect the roots or leaves but rather support them and keep them healthy.

Here my plant in a new vase and feeling happier. On the side are the rocks and the last yellow leaves I took away.

Signs of a Boss vs a Leader

There is a lot out there to help see the signs of someone that leads as a boss and someone that is a leader. I have found some of these signs myself when working with leaders that have powerful positions.
One sign I have found to be un-mistakenly right all the time is when they are referred as "The person at the corner office". I have seen this being the only "title" that person had for all my duration at that organization. And then I have seen the sad story where initially they are referred by name and then slowly they have been "promoted" to this new title.

It's definitely a sign that people do not believe anymore on you, your vision, your action or what you say. You have become the person that stays in this nice corner office, with a nice view of the ivory tower around you and far from the daily issues that your organization faces.
I just heard a group of people using this title for one of the leaders I was working with. It all started well. We all had open and transparent conversations. And then pressure came, tough decisions had to be made. It is there where I saw the true leaders and the ones that complied. The ones that knew the choice was tough but was the right one versus the ones that looked for a quick fix  right here right now.
Listen around. What do people call you?

Roles and Responsibilities

Be aware when you are asked to prepare a description of Roles and Responsibilities for a certain title. You might find out more if you ask "Why?"
In my case, it was to be used to solve the conflict between two team members that just didn't know how to work together and had different expectations from their managers. There was very little ask from the organization (found from surveys we did) on clarifying roles and responsibilities. It looked like everyone had a good sense of their role and the role of the people around them. Expect for these two individuals. And because of that, the managers blamed the new roles that Agile brought in the organization.

Managers asked to clarify very well the roles for these two other people and make sure they know what is expected from them. These two team members couldn't step into each-other areas and collaborate without letting each-other feel like they are taking credit for their job. They took their job description from online sites and pointed out the details about what each should do. That was not helping to create the environment we were looking for, a Collaborative one. So there was a conflict.
I did not create a job description initially. I knew I was going to put a lot of effort and get low return. It was not about the job description, it was about the expectations and personalities that the managers had to understand and improve. I spoke with the managers, I pointed out on this gap between ask, expectations, measurement of success and understanding what motivates them. Managers spoke with these team members. When they ran out of patience, they presented the possible consequences (!) to both of them if they do not find a way to work things out. Somehow the situation took a turn for better and these two team members found a way to work together for a while. Not collaborate, only work without creating trouble.
There were some tougher actions that the managers could have taken and some more patience to put into the conversations. They didn't. It required managers to have tough conversations, to set better expectations, to work closer to help these people grow comfortable in a collaborative environment. Managers didn't have a good example on how to do that and so the system created started tolerating behaviors that were not going to help the future.

Maybe next time!