because writing is clarifying

Over time, I observed a particular leadership trap that managers and others in leadership roles fall into. The trap is participating as opposed to leading. I fell into such a trap myself a few times. Let me give you an example to highlight the difference between leading and participating.

This example involved the manager of a large team. The team ran into a defect in a system owned by another group. They first tried to work around the issue and then escalated it to the other team over email. The email thread grew over the next few days to include several others as the problem turned out to be in yet another system. Folks shared ideas on potential causes and fixes over email. It was not clear for days who was playing what role and who was accountable fixing the defect.

The manager was also on the email thread. Along with others, he too asked questions and shared ideas about potential solutions. Days went by. The email thread grew longer. Everyone, including that manager, operated as though they were collaboratively discussing the issue. The issue lingered for 3–4 weeks before someone fixed the problem.

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