Ever since I started working in a small proprietary firm, I knew I had landed in a people centric job. I held a degree in computer science but what I had got into was quite tangent to what I had studied. Well knowledge gained would definitely not go waste if I shared it.
As I moved into my second job which was very challenging in a start up firm as Assistant Manager - Client Services, I was assigned a team of tough Software professionals and Clients seated at remote locations in USA. This was a demanding role and when I said managing a team of Software guys, it's definitely not as their Project Manager, my role was more of a "People Manager"
Managing people is like a complex project work. Managing a herd of sheep would be a whole lot easier. I did not mean to undermine the topic. Well, here is the truth, people are governed by both internal and external factors such as health, moods, likes, dislikes, emotions, families, passions, hobbies, habits etc. Name it and the list could grow forever. So taking a single individual in himself into consideration, it looks like a complex management task, imagine managing a group of people! Wow! now the whole set of governing factors need to be multiplied per individual into the number of individuals to be managed! Looks complex doesn't it?
So, now let me tell you a simple yet striking thought I would like to share. Consider the simple bar soap you use to bathe yourself or wash hands or wash clothes. I am not moving away from the topic, but talking about the very core of the matter. When you hold the wet soap with wet hands and when your grip is too tight, it slips away from your tight grip; you loosen your grip and it slips again; you hold the soap with the right grip (not too tight nor too loose) it stays in your hand and you are able to use it to serve your purpose. This is exactly what happens in people management in any firm/organization.
This is so far the most simple yet a valuable example that demonstrates the power to manage people. Power to manage people does not lie in the authority of the beholder but in the substantial way the authority is delegated.
