“I am not going to be here on Day 61.”
The gig was supposed to be an architectural redesign for a University here in Virginia. Like a lot of IT teams, they had a mis-match of products, vendors, and systems that didn’t really work well. A friend had suggested I had both the technical and people skills to help, and I had said yes without asking the right questions… but it didn’t matter…
On the third day, we were notified we would have a $2.5 million dollar grant – IF we could spend the money, and install the systems by December 31. Did I mention it was November 2nd… 60 days to design, contract, install, and run…
… and it was run through a state procurement organization… during the Fall of 2020 – PEAK COVID with masks and in person meetings nearly impossible…
… and… I knew how to do it… having a Legacy of similar Death Marches for many different projects in my career. And… I could only focus on those details for about 60 days. “You need to find someone who can take over as the Project manager before that day.” I had said it, every day, for the last 20 days…
…the date nobody on your team has been told…
You have a Legacy date in your head. The day you move to the next role, or the day this project stops being yours, or the day you finally stop answering the late email. Your team does not have that date. They are planning around a leader who, as far as they know, will be there forever.
Your home runs on the same Legacy calendar. The kids need a parent who will always be at the table, and the team is planning around a boss who will always be in the chair. Both are wrong, eventually. That gap is a risk you are managing alone, and the people it lands on have no say in it.
…the manager who was paid like a member of the band…
In May 1978, the 4 members of U2 met Paul McGuinness, born in 1951 in Rinteln, West Germany. Adam Clayton had been managing the band himself, and handed the job over that month. McGuinness talked the 4 of them into sharing everything equally, and the first deal split the money 5 ways, with him as the fifth. For a long time, as the Irish Times put it, he was paid as if he were part of the band. He set up his own company in 1984, turned down the “fifth member” label in a 1985 interview, and ran U2’s business for 35 years. In November 2013 he stepped down, and Guy Oseary took over. The band did not stop. It had been built to keep going without him.
The day you leave is a date. Put it where the team can see it.
…a song that took 3 albums to finish…
City of Blinding Lights started as an outtake from the Pop sessions in 1997. The band tried it again for All That You Can’t Leave Behind in 2000, and still could not finish it. They finally rebuilt it for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Adam Clayton said they threw out almost everything, kept the melody, and built it back up with new drum parts, new bass parts and new guitars. It went to #2 in the UK in June 2005 and won the Grammy for Best Rock Song in 2006… the song needed 7 years and a different set of hands on it.
…the Legacy that walks out the door with you…
Nobody remembers the leader who stayed until the lights went off. They remember the one who told them, early and plainly, that the lights would go off, and then made sure they knew where the switch was. McGuinness gave U2 a way of splitting the money that outlasted him. A date said out loud does the same job for a team. It turns your leaving from a surprise into a plan, and a plan is something people can join.
…what I managed to leave behind on Day 61…
… it was a death march, and I had to make sure my Legacy was not to be doing it on day 61 AND that everyone there remembered me as someone that both helped it succeed and they felt heard and listened to. We did it… and on the 30th of December, they gave us a 1 year extension… JUST as the last piece to come together 😉
Saying it every day felt repetitive by week 2. By week 4 it was the only plan in the room that everyone knew by heart. The repetition was the management. They all slowly stepped up and by Day 61 I had stepped away, and they carried on without me…
Your “Simple… Not Easy” move: Say your “Day 61” out loud in your next team meeting: the date you step back, and who takes the seat.
If you want a second pair of ears on how to manage that conversation before you have it, let’s talk it through. Schedule time with me here.
Say the date, then watch the room light up like the… City of Blinding Lights
