Success Requires a Doer’s Personality
(Originally Created by Brendan Alan Barrett of StartInPhx.com)
In the inaugural post I wrote for this series, Don’t Let Adversity Derail Your Work, 7 Things to Remember That Will Keep Your Work on Track, I mentioned that you should decide right now that the little details are your responsibility. Even if you delegate something to a team member, it is your responsibility that they do the work and do it well.
Now, if you are not in a position with the authority to delegate tasks, much like in the world of air travel, you should put on your own air-mask before trying to assist other passengers. As a member of team with an assigned contribution to make, the whole system falls apart if your first priority isn’t your assigned task.
Upon fulfilling your individual responsibilities, it is certainly in your best interest to pick up slack wherever it is needed. This is as much the case when you’re working with co-workers as it is when the success of your work requires the performance of folks outside of your organization.
My work in sales and project management has reinforced this same lesson on numerous occasions.
I’ve learned that when you rely on the combine efforts of other people, contractors, subcontractors, clients, and whoever else, to execute a project – you are not only dealing with natural circumstances, but also personalities that can obstruct the success of the work.
Most people that get into sales are doers, and if you prefer the DISC assessment you’d say they have a dominance personality. They place emphasis on accomplishing results, and they like to measure their productivity by counting the number of tasks they’ve completed.
These kinds of folks might not be naturally outgoing, but if they find that a situation calls for them to be the most outgoing person in the room, they find a way to make it happen.
A lot of successful project managers are the same way. They find ways to organize the chaos of working with a variety of stakeholders, because it is required for the success of the project.
Their team may have never worked together before, but successful managers find ways to keep things moving at a consistent pace regardless of the obstacles. They respect the nuances of working with different personalities to accomplish a common goal. They account for these nuances because these smallest of details are inherently their responsibility.
This kind of success-or-death mentality and resourcefulness is what makes Hank Reardon of Atlas Shrugged one of my favorite literary characters. When his peers and colleagues would tell him that something couldn’t be done or that there was an unfortunate circumstance he’d just have to accept, his natural instinct was to start looking for a way to deliver his steel, outperform his competition, and surpass expectations.
While some people have a natural predisposition to push through the roadblocks they’ve been presented with, doing this repeatedly and on daily basis is really nothing more than a learned habit. Just like people can learn the habit of accepting limitations, you can also learn to overcome hurdles that threaten the progress of your work.
It doesn’t happen overnight, but you can teach yourself to take responsibility for the smallest of details, and to look for solutions instead of accepting limitations. You just have to challenge yourself to do so every single day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brendan Alan Barrett, writes about professional development at www.StartInPhx.com, a blog dedicated to the mission of career success without student-debt. Brendan is also the author of READ WRITE DO Professional Development and Career Success Playbook, a book written for people who want to jump start the career they’ve wanted for way too long.
