Advice
Whether you are a manager of people, or the managed, you need to seek opportunity for elevating your skills and value to remain relevant and in growth mode.
Relevancy for today
With the work environment continuing to be more hybrid/home than office based, some of the basic work patterns have been disrupted. One of these is delegation, and delegation goes both ways.
Managers who may have had an easier time delegating tasks to team members when they were able to see each other's workload may be hesitant to delegate when remote. It's hard to assess exactly what capacity a team member has, there are no quick conversations and interactions throughout the day and every touch point needs to be planned. Whether it's picking up the phone to make a call, scheduling a Zoom meeting or sharing it on Confluence - it requires planning. The serendipitous meeting is no longer an option. Managers may tend to 'do it themselves' due to this lack of contact. And that's a mistake for the manager and the employee. If a manager is spending time on tasks/projects/initiatives they should assign out, they are not giving themselves opportunity to grow. And by not assigning these items, they are denying their employees growth opportunities.
Employees and team members suffer from this as well. Without the in person interaction, they may not know what is on their manager's plate to offer assistance. Employees need to be more active in seeking out opportunities to grow and need to leave their comfort zone and ask for assignments. This will demonstrate their willingness to continue to support the team, department and manager - which didn't require as much effort in the past. Upward mobility may be stunted if an employee is perceived as 'just getting by' and not increasing their knowledge, value and skills.
So, in 2022, no matter what seat you currently fill, know that it will take effort to elevate your status. But don't be afraid of making the effort, the investment will pale in comparison to the return! Delegate to Elevate!
