I Don’t Want To Be The Boss Of You
They say the hardest thing is letting go.
I think they are idiots.
Rodney, I received your paperwork requesting a project manager for your expansion in the Kansas City call center. I also noticed that you set up the project kickoff meeting for Wednesday. That might be a problem.
Oh?
Well, realize that even though you used to be a PM, whomever I assign to the be the project manager is going to need the freedom to run the project himself.
Yeah, that’s what I was hoping. So, what’s the problem?
I have a house full of teenagers. Currently there are seven of them. . .I think. The youngest, twin 14 year olds are still mostly content to do what my lovely wife and I ask them to do. The older ones, the 17 year-olds, are convinced that they pretty much have life figured out and as their parents, we are simply trying to run their lives.
They are convinced that the rules and the correction we give them are because we crave control. That somehow we can’t stand the idea of them being independent. In other words, they think we want to be the boss of them. Telling them the truth makes no difference.
The truth? The truth is that we can’t wait for them to be independent. We are counting the days until we no longer have to be responsible for their comings and goings, their schooling and buying their clothes. Make no mistake, we love our children. We have several who have made that transition to adulthood and we love spending time with them, and with our grandkids.
And there are still times where we get asked for advice or asked to help. And just as we would with anyone, family or friend, who needed help, we try to assist when we can. But, it’s such a relief to not be responsible. One child quit a job without having another one lined up already.
Wow, that’s going to make it a little rough for awhile. Good luck.
We didn’t have to fix it. We didn’t have to do anything except sympathize with our child. We are definitley not helicoptor parents, swooping in to “fix” all of our child’s issues.
That’s what made my conversation at work so interesting.
Well, you set up those meetings. That’s typically the PM’s role. I’m just worried that you will end up trying to manage the project.
No worries. I set the meeting because I knew it might take you some time to assign a PM and with the tight deadline for this project, I didn’t want to delay. But, I’m going to be thrilled to work with your PM and let him run the show. Part of the reason I reached out to you is that I don’t have time to run this project even if I wanted to.
No way did I want to be the boss of him.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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