When the Right Person is in the Wrong Job
There was talk among my fellow managers of disciplinary action or even laying off the struggling Project Manager (PM). His projects were not progressing fast enough and his communication to upper management was lacking confidence. Having worked with him before and seen his solid engineering and core business skills first hand, this was really surprising. In my opinion, he showed potential but this current role wasn’t allowing him to shine.
With an opening in my team, I reached out to his manager and asked if I could transition him to an Application Engineering role on my team. The manager said it’d be worth a try. The PM was happy to be thrown a lifeline from the troubled role. I set him out with clear objectives and let him take the lead on several new assignments where he began to make great progress. His confidence grew and in just two years he was promoted to Engineering Manager. Over time he took on increasingly significant leadership roles and today leads his own department.
Just because someone is not thriving in a particular role does not mean they can’t contribute to your organization in important ways. Sometimes a bright, capable, energetic person simply isn’t a good fit for a particular position. Help them find the win-win role where their strengths will allow them to excel. In this way, you will change someone’s life by setting them on a path for success.
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