Life without training wheels - "tough love" is what we need

Training wheels are kind of funky aren't they? You see kids struggling to ride a little bike with them affixed, usually in a weird lopsided manner, but they never really get the hang of how a bike works until they are actually removed and then they HAVE to learn how it all works. It seems the training wheels just delayed or prevented the learning.

Or take my own experience with learning how to swim freestyle properly, for instance. For years, I struggled to swim well - I kept wanting to keep my head above water, literally. A breakthrough came when I was finally retrained by a young child (who actually laughed at me!) to put my face down in the water and just swim like she was doing. This seemingly counterintuitive shift made all the difference, and swimming suddenly became easier. Similarly, many children wobble on bikes equipped with training wheels, only to discover true balance when these are removed. Training aids can be crutches, preventing genuine skill development.

I've been mulling all this and reflecting on what other "training wheels" may be actually preventing me (and us) from learning and getting on with the ACTUAL job. Ironically, sometimes aids, designed for safety, often end up limiting our growth. Sometimes, it's much better to just be given a dose of "tough love" from someone else to yank those wheels off and say, "Go for it - now pedal!"

Here's some metaphoric training wheel I see all too often:

Playing it too safe

Sticking to tried-and-true methods is the business equivalent of keeping your training wheels on; they provide safety but may stifle growth. Sometimes, it's better to start with a blank sheet of paper and start fresh than to build off past work. There's a myth, largely apocryphal, that Seymore Cray (of supercomputer fame) was an avid boat builder and each year used to burn his handmade boat so that he wouldn't be tempted to just make a tweak from a past design. While I don't recommend throwing away IP or know-how, there's a lot to be said for a fresh start, scary though that may be.

As one example of playing it safe, I know that in the past I tended to use speakers notes, but according to feedback, one of the best talks I ever gave was completely impromptu (because I didn't know I was the nominated guest speaker since I hadn't read that email properly - oops). Anyway - I learned that knowing the subject well and then allowing your mind to improvise can work powerfully, together with a good dose of adrenaline! As author Yvon Chouinard said 'The more you know, the less you need.' Ha - so true. But this approach implies a commitment to life-long learning and knowing your subjects well, something I whole-heartedly encourage and continually aim to improve.

Letting go of Micromanagement

Micromanagement in a professional setting is like having someone running alongside your bike, holding the seat to keep you balanced. While it's comforting, it ultimately holds you back from mastering the art of balance yourself. A tough-love friend would tell you, "Let go, you can balance on your own!" Maybe it's time to break free, if you are the one being micro-managed, and try and negotiate for the freedom to have a proper go even though there may be some stumbling at first.

Challenging your leadership personal style or team comfort zone

Being in a team or in a leadership role requires discovering your style. Getting genuine feedback on this is vital so you can balance the many conflicting demands of leadership or performing to your best as a team member. I have personally found value in 360 degree feedback systems (a link is here) , despite being a bit confronted by some of what was brought to my attention when I was in a significant leadership role. I discovered through this feedback that my leadership style at times assumed too much team maturity or group competence, and it was better for me to adjust this to be more instructive when a team was just forming, while aiming to avoid micro-management by backing this off as team competence and maturity increased - something called situational leadership (you can find a link here .)

Similarly undertaking unconscious bias training was also helpful in helping me find my leadership and team balance - you can find more via a link here . One final thing to share on this: team members and managers can be amazingly supportive and forgiving if they can see you making real efforts, are authentic and genuinely striving for the good of the team and enterprise. You don't have to feel unsupported when the training wheels come off!

What are your thoughts?

Feel free to share the training wheels you have discarded, or perhaps those wheels you notice are holding your friends and colleagues back (without naming names please!)