Not trusting your team to do the job.

Have you ever played volleyball when one person tries to play every position? He runs all over your team’s half of the court hitting volleys that should rightfully be hit by other teammates. Because he is running to other positions, his hits are bad. He plays his own position badly too, because he’s running around playing all six positions.

Most of us know people in the business world like this too. She has her own job to do, but still gets involved with the jobs of others. This is common with newly promoted managers. Managing his new team is well outside of his comfort zone, so he reverts back to his worker-bee days. He gets involved in the details and does the work of others.

Whether he feels nobody can do it as well as him, or if he just doesn’t want to leave his comfort zone, it really doesn’t matter. He’s doing work outside of his assigned responsibilities. It confuses and frustrates the people who are supposed to do that work. And he spreads himself so thin that he doesn’t do any of his tasks well.

It hurts the team

Just like in the volleyball scenario, because one person tries to do too much, he causes his teammates and himself to fail. He tries to carry the team and single-handedly pulls them down.

When the team fails, he sometimes takes it out on his team. “Imagine how badly this would have turned out if I hadn’t been carrying the team.” However, as we all know, the true irony is that if he had focused on his responsibility – played his position – he would have stayed out of everyone’s way and allowed them to play their positions better.

The confusion of that person crossing the line so many times leads people to assume he will step in. Should I hit this ball coming to me? Or should I get out of his way and let him hit it? When the ball comes crashing down on the ground, he looks at you with a look that says, “Why didn’t you hit that?”

Related post: Project Management Role: Removing Obstacles

Gold plating

People can also cross the line without entering other peoples’ territory. If your job is to set the ball, someone else has to spike it. You can’t double hit the ball. Some people think they need to do everything. Her responsibility is to perform steps A, B, and C. She decides that she can go over and above and perform step D as well. Even if there was no one else designated to do step D, maybe the customer or end-user wasn’t even interested in step D. It may even make their job more difficult.

How do you go over and above?

Certainly, we don’t want people who walk around claiming, “That’s not my job.” We want to encourage people who overachieve. But how do we encourage that behavior and discourage overstepping one’s boundaries?

Going back to the volleyball analogy, the typical team has six positions. Each person is in charge of their position. If you are playing the rear-center position and the ball goes to the rear-left, rather than jumping in front of your teammate, you can back her up. By trusting your team, standing at the baseline and communicating your location to the person next to you, she knows that if she is unable to get the ball, or is unsure whether it is inbounds, that you will cover her. She knows her responsibility and will do it to the best of her ability knowing there is a backup.

Not trusting your team and getting in the way

The same can be done in the business environment. If you allow someone to do their job, but let them know that you are there to help, that person knows where she stands and where you stand. Each person knows their responsibility and knows how they can both work together for a more collaborative, efficient, and productive work environment.

For more information, check out The Importance of Leadership in Project Management

Conclusion

Doing your job should not be limited to inflexible rules of a job description. Workers in the modern world need to be able to step outside of their job description and their comfort zone in order to help the organization achieve its goals.

But trying to be all things to all people, stepping on the toes of others creates an environment of confusion, frustration and, ultimately, poor productivity. The key to going above and beyond is communication. When teammates let you know where they need help and you let them know when you are helping, you can overachieve both personally and as a team.

When have you had issues trusting your team? How did it affect them?

If you would like to learn more about a career in Project Management, get Lew’s book Project Management 101: 101 Tips for Success in Project Management on Amazon.

Please feel free to provide feedback in the comments section below.