Make Resolving Impediments a Habit
I’ve talked a lot about the rigors of finding and resolving impediments for a team. There is one thing that I have left out: the people part. I learned this lesson at a conference that I was co-hosting. I had been in charge of setting up the food for the event. Getting the caterer, arranging for meals, that sort of thing. As you might imagine, it’s a pretty tough job to satisfy the dietary requirements for a very large group of people. I learned of whole categories of food allergies and needs that I had never even imagined existed! There was a little bit of every imaginable combination. Everything from your standard gluten free diet all the way to lacto-ovo-pesca-leguma-veganitarians (OK, I made that last one up).
We did the best we could to satisfy the needs of most folks and pretty much called it good. About halfway through the conference, someone mentioned that there was no food that fit in their dietary needs. I expressed my sympathies and referred them to the grocery store around the corner. I really didn’t give it another thought. A few minutes later, I heard the same complaint made by the same person, but this time the reply was, “I’ll get you something, I’ll be right back” And that person ran off to the store themselves. Wow!
I was humbled. The difference between my reaction and theirs was the difference between someone who could empathize and take action to resolve the impediment, and someone who couldn’t. The lesson I learned that day was that in order to help people with their impediments, it takes empathy. You have to feel their need, and be receptive to doing anything to help them out. I think I had missed that before. That willingness to serve the needs of others is really important. All the strategies in the world for resolving impediments won’t help anyone if you don’t care.