The Slingshot: Secret sauce of control

“I understand delegation. I am still not able to figure out the secret sauce of control. When should I exercise tighter control and when should I leave it to the team?”

In a Saturday morning mentoring session with a budding CEO of a start-up, we were discussing scaling the organization.

“It’s like using a slingshot, my friend.”

“A tighter control is required when you are aiming.”

“Select flexible, energetic, motivated team members. Zero in on a target within range. Charge them up with motivation. The action means nothing, only the results count. And yes, you have to time it properly, a moving target is hard to nail down.”

“And let it go when you are shooting.”

“When the target is in range, release them. Give them full freedom to go and attack. Timing is as critical as the right amount of pressure. While the team is in action, do not interfere. Let them go as fast. Confidence allows people to perform better. Interference creates a distraction.”

“I tried doing so, but the desired results are not guaranteed when the team members are not in control.”

“Allow for failures. Use failures for learning and preparing for the next shot. Correct the mistakes, replace the damaged components if any. Go back to step one. :-)”

Using Slingshot?

#motivation #team #leadership #ceotalks