A Good Team

Yet more on the soft skills

I have always been impressed by how well people will work in a project team if you respect them and let them get on with it. My last big project team were all very professional. Of course some of them were better at some things than others but they were all good and capable of working well and they knew their stuff. It was a real pleasure and a privilege to work with them. Unlike at the Olympics, in many ways a good project team is better than a spectacular team. 

A poor project manager will try to micro-manage the team and want to be seen as a superstar. But superstars can get carried away with their own importance then, sooner or later, they will burn out and crash back to earth.  

The Way 
The wise project manager settles for good work and lets the team get on with things. He or she does not try and take the credit for what happens and has no desire for fame. They make sure the team takes the credit, as after all, they have done the work. Having a moderate ego demonstrates true wisdom

The Tao  
Lao Tzu tells us:

Fill your bowl to the brim,  
And it will spill.  
Over sharpen your knife,  
And the edge will soon be blunt.  

Amass a store of gold and jade,  
And nothing can guard it.  
Care about other peoples’ approval,  
And you will be their prisoner.  

Retire when the work is done.  
This is the way to serenity.