If you’ve ever babysat some precocious kids, then you’ve practiced leadership transition!
Four ways babysitting is a leadership transition
Have you ever had a peanut butter and pickle sandwich? It’s an interesting recipe I learned from a nine year old.
I learned a lot of things from my babysitting days.
Every time was like a mini-experiment in leadership transition:
- Key structural elements were passed to me to uphold such as meal times, bed times, and story time routines.
- Contingency plans were offered such as phone numbers to reach the parents or the neighbours.
- Insights were shared with me such as subtle signs of someone getting tired, or of someone unhappy with the leadership change, and I was told about strategies that have worked in the past to address them.
- The kids inevitably explored how new leadership could benefit them, such as making their own sandwiches – which was granted, and asking for one more tv show – which was not.
While a night out can be fun for parents, it can also benefit the kids by giving them a different leadership experience, even if it’s brief.
Same Pattern as a Manager on Vacation
Years later as a manager, I saw a similar pattern when I would go away for vacation. My staff could explore a shift in their responsibilities in meetings, and tap into new depths of resourcefulness. I looked forward to seeing how they grew when I was gone.
Exercise
So here’s an exercise to strengthen your transition muscle:
- Today, make a list of things for someone temporarily filling in for you.
- Then, identify the top three things and the bottom three things.
- Every day this week, review and edit the list as needed.
- At the end of the week, reflect on what might happen if you didn’t share the bottom three things with your replacement.
- And reflect on what might happen if you deprioritized them yourself. (Maybe you’ll be offered a peanut butter and pickle sandwich!)
