I did it, we will do it together now – Dependency Created.

“You cannot run it without Tommy”

We often create dependencies to protect ourselves and show our value in the team. I have seen people go on vacation and his/her colleagues struggle to back him/her up during his vacation due to poor hand over

and knowledge sharing. That leaves the client and leadership team says, “You cannot run it without Tommy” (Tommy is just imaginary Mr. Depended). This isn’t good for the organization, team members and himself. It is the negative way, I wouldn’t want work with such people, and I would not rate Tommy high no matter he is doing his assigned work well.

“What are you saying Anoop?” I know many of you must be asking this question now.  Let me explain. What makes you valuable employee in the organization when ‘you are a go to guy’. That means, your team trust you to get a job done and make your team member to do the same. If you are not only getting the job done but also empowering entire team to do same level or beyond. You are creating dependency but, not by creating a dependency to get that job done. This will help us growing a very good work culture and higher client satisfactions. I would call this is a positive way of creating a dependency in the organization.

We must share the knowledge with others in a timely fashion to help your colleagues and help your organization to bringing high level of quality deliverable.

Hiding too many things under the blanket may bring applause short term but it will affect you badly in the future. You will be locked up to the same role because You Only Know It, but you will not be able to move on to next level because nobody can replace you there. So, if we want to grow in the organizations, we must not create too much dependencies on us. I can guarantee you that it will slow down the growth. A smart leader can easily identify your unwillingness to share the knowledge which may not be good for you.

Let’s do it for the first time, document it, share it and let the team do it. When the team learn and grows, I am sure you will grow. We should cultivate ‘I did it, we will do it together now’ culture in the team. When the leadership is depended on you to do this way, I would say I am happy that I am depended on you.  Agree?