The Art of Managing — Deciding when to let go and when to wait 

Imagine a scene.

It's 12:10 PM. You are sitting in front of your laptop, still going through your emails and preparing some analysis. It's been a busy day for you and your team. An empty cup of coffee is sitting nicely next to your laptop, ready to be refilled.

Suddenly, a pop chat appears. Someone needs support related to the system and says, "I reached out to your team members to no avail. Their MS Teams status is away. Since your status is available, I'm coming to you. It's not urgent, but it would be great if you can fix it".

Of course, they are away because it's lunchtime. Your mind goes back to the request; it's actually an easy task and since you have the access, you can fix it immediately. So you do the task before you have your lunch. You solve the issue! You support your team members! Proudly, you inform your team that they do not need to follow up because it's been done. Oh, how you love your job and your role. (Work) life is beautiful and everybody is happy.

But wait... are they really happy? I had a discussion with my team members and it turned out my jump-to-solution-mode working style is not making everybody content.

These are the points that I gathered:

1. They know I mean well when I take over their work.
2. However, it still makes them feel small. I gasped and squeaked the question, "What do you mean by small?" It turns out, that by doing their work, I somehow eliminate their need for existence. It's their job and they are supposed to be the ones doing it.
3. I displayed a mixture of micromanagement and lack of appreciation. I need to appreciate everyone else's working pace — as long as it doesn't ruin the end result or anyone's work performance, and we're definitely not in a crisis.
4. I should trust them more. This last point really hit hard. Apparently, for them, it seems that I have no faith in their capabilities when I rush to do their job.
5. They will reach out if they truly need my help.

I'm glad I had this brutally honest conversation with my team. No matter your work culture, style of leadership, or the hierarchy you are in, we need to be mindful of when to let go and when to wait.

Letting go doesn't mean we don't care. It means we trust someone can do his/her job. If there are things that do not go according to plan, it's not the end of the world. You can always review it and commit to improvement.

The waiting can be excruciating, believe me. But you want your team, your colleagues to grow with you, right? If we keep doing the jumping-to-solution mode, I doubt we can learn, grow together and collaborate.

Reflection time: When was the last time you jumped to solution mode, my fellow LinkedIn friends? How did it go?

Special thanks to Meriza Lenanda, Detci Meyanti, and Tri Pebriantoro for those conversations and feedbacks we had.