When you want things to be done a certain way but don’t provide the empowerment or resources necessary for it to occur, you’re putting the cart before the horse. And you’re confusing people.
If you want to be powerful in management, you must show people the dartboard. “Here’s the bull’s eye, the target to aim for.” If you are not talking about the bull’s eye, or at least the dartboard, you’re wasting your breath.
Most managers over-explain obvious facts everyone knows and spend no time on the crucial details that move a project. Details they should be revisiting and re-presenting for their team repeatedly. Then they blame project managers for not doing their job. Is it your project manager, or is it your lack of leadership? Consider that it’s your lack of leadership.
Your opinions also don’t matter. In other words, if you set a goal for your team to generate $50,000 in sales in three months, and they reach the $50,000 figure in three months, but not in the way you wanted it to be done, it’s because you did not tell them how it was to be done. They still met the goal and you must fulfill on your promises, whatever they were. If you have a problem with how things were done, either throw out your preferences or get in the practice of generating the entire dartboard, not just the bull’s eye.
