I’d like to follow-up on the last blog article regarding the role you’re in for a collaboration effort and how effective you are in that role (or roles).
Let’s tackle the issue of influence, starting with the Individual Contributor (IC)—the person who actually completes a work item that is often integrated into a Key Component Dependency. The work item could be writing a presentation or document, developing or testing code, analyzing data, etc.
In my experience, the IC often feels powerless over the outcome of the final deliverable. Or, the IC feels stuck between meeting the daily job deadlines of his/her direct manager (DM) and the work item deadlines of the “Project Manager” (there are numerous titles for this role) for the collaboration effort. To further complicate things, it’s common that the DM and the project manager report into different management chains.
Since there are so many titles for the project manager or person who is accountable for a deliverable, but who has little or no authority over the individuals who help build it, I have chosen to call this role “Herder.” (This name came from watching old western movies with the cowboy moving the herd from one ranch to another many miles away.)
- ICs actually have a strong ability to ensure their work items meet the needs of both their DM and the Herder:
Schedule a meeting with the 3 of you (IC, DM and Herder) to set clear goals and expectations, determine and clarify resource requirements, and define the success criteria for the work item(s). If the IC has a different vision of what success looks like than the Herder, the work item will fail, and ultimately the Key Component Dependency and Final Deliverable will fail or not meet the needs of the Customer.- Define priorities and be specific: What work items from the DM takes priority over the collaborative work items from the Herder? And vice versa.
- Establish checkpoints or milestones when you can meet with the Herder to verify the work item is on track to meet the defined success criteria. This overcomes the most common pitfall of ICs—they move forward and complete the work item without getting direction from the Herder or checking in along the way.
We all have work items where our role is that of an Individual Contributor. There’s no need to feel powerless. Take charge and control over your success.