HBS Essay #2. What Have You Learned From A Mistake?

My responsibilities on a previous client service engagement involved implementing an electronic sourcing and project management tool for one of Deloitte’s top clients. To assist with the efforts, I was paired with a client associate named Rose, a newcomer to the department. In addition to having no prior experience in sourcing, Rose appeared to lack some fundamental business skills such as the ability to quickly synthesize new information and concisely communicate key points. As I began to question her abilities and the value she would bring to the project, I found myself limiting her participation. Little by little, I delegated only the more administrative tasks to her, neglected to explain the finer nuances of the work, and even excluded her from some of the more major discussions and decisions. Thus, my mistake was made: I did not properly assess Rose’s potential nor proactively invest in her abilities and skill set.

My initial approach with Rose proved short-sighted. It became obvious to senior client members that Rose was slipping behind and this raised important questions of sustainability of the long-term project. Furthermore, it also significantly increased my personal workload as I tried to shoulder the burden of two people. As I directly and somewhat possessively completed the work in order to minimize risk of Rose’s involvement, I realized I was not acting as a leader. As a leader, I have responsibility to cultivate subordinates while maintaining mindfulness of the risk to the organization. If the potential to succeed exists in a team member, then investing in that individual’s talents is the key to the organization’s long-term success.

In taking action on this insight, I first realized that Rose did have important characteristics that would enable her to take a future leadership role: she is ambitious, motivated, and meticulous in her attention to her role’s responsibilities. After assessing she was a capable learner, I sought to deeply engage her in the project through cultivating her sourcing knowledge and delegating increasingly more important tasks to her. Eventually, Rose was able to make meaningful contributions to her organization including training many system users in her office and even assuming a global system administrator role after some time. As I look to lead teams and organizations in the future, I have learned to invest heavily in the development of the resources upfront, thereby optimizing the team’s output over the long-term.