The Right Tool for the Job

Let me preface this little note by saying my family is out of town. What you are about to read isn't something that happens when I'm among the company of regular people, but like many of us, when left to my own devices, I can get caught up in unhealthy thoughts and habits. Last night was no different.

As I was watching the hometown Diamondbacks lose to the hated Philadelphia Phillies, I had that old familiar twinge in my stomach that I haven't had for some time. It was like something was calling me from the dark, family free night.

"Deeeeeeep Dissssshhh"

I shrugged off the calling and continued to watch the game. Boom. Kyle Schwarber home run. Boom. Bryce Harper home run.

"Deeeeeeep Dissssshhh"

I started to recall happier memories. My 11-year anniversary was this week and for our honeymoon we spent 5 days in Chicago acting like tourists. We hit the architecture cruise tour, all the museums, and yes, even had a Giordano's deep dish. My will power was once again failing me. I found myself looking at my watch and calculating where the game would be in the 60-70 minutes before the pizza cake would be ready. It was nearly perfect timing. I was beat.

This morning when I woke up, I wasn't really craving a whole piece of the nearly full pizza left-over from last night, but I did think a little slice from one of the massive pieces would satisfy the craving I was experiencing. I grabbed a knife from the drawer and sliced off a third of a piece. Now, I mentioned my family being out of town because here is where married men are separated from our closely tied bachelor friends. Rather than grab an additional piece of silverware that will need to be washed before my wife gets home, I decided to just use the knife to pull double duty as a fork. It went well enough for me to sit down and write this 500 word explanation.

As a knife, the knife did a fantastic job! It sliced through the might deep dish with ease. There were no issues. It wasn't until I asked it to do a job it was not well suited for did it experience a problem. As a fork, it didn't fare so well. There wasn't enough width for it to hold the weight of the pie. It kept falling off the side like a gymnast new to the balance beam. I tried again and again and found myself getting a little irritated with the knife. Then, like so many things in life, when the pain got great enough, I had my moment of clarity. Why was I mad at the knife? It was doing a perfect job at being a knife. I am the one who put it in the position of trying to do a fork's job. It was in that moment that I stabbed the little morsel of pizza and thought, I shouldn't get mad at the knife. It's my fault! I am the leader of this project and I put the wrong tool on the wrong task.

I had to laugh a little and think how often I do that as a leader in my every day life. How often do I ask a field technician to do be a project manager? How often do I ask a project manager to be a purchasing agent? How often do I ask a sales consultant to be in collections? As my frustration this morning grew, I realized I was getting irritated at the wrong thing for the wrong reason.

This isn't to say we shouldn't all have a little crossover and learn different skills to do different things and help each other out in a pinch, but when I have a drawer full of the right tools, I am only going to create frustration for myself and our clients when I send the wrong tool out to do the job. Now, it should be said, that I've sent the wrong person out to do the job on several occasions where it went perfectly. Without those great experiences, I would never get the idea to do it again. It's like golfing; you'll usually have that one great shot that gives you the thought that going again is probably a good idea. But, didn't I just get lucky when that happens? Was it really my great coaching skills that created that opportunity for success? Winning is about percentages. I have a higher percentage to succeed if I plan ahead, execute the plan, and use the right tool (or person) for the job. Now, I still have 11 hours before my wife gets home and 3 more pieces of deep dish. That still gives me plenty of time to di the dish and hide the box.