Crash course in leadership

All the details

I work for a small company, in a small team. There are three of us in the content department, to be exact: my manager, myself and a junior editor. We produce a staggering amount of work between us, and the absence of one person has a huge impact. So, when my manager announced that she would be going on maternity leave for five months, there was, understandably, some panic.

What happened next

As the senior editor, it fell on me to take on my manager’s responsibilities, while also performing my own duties. During that time, the workload started increasing rapidly, with us barely being able to keep up with the content development requirements. There was pressure from executive management to keep it flowing. It was a stressful time.

Actions and words

While much of what we do requires cross-functional collaboration, a lot of it does not – we are very dependent on each other’s skills and work habits. My solution to dealing with the challenges became clear: empower my team member and then play to his strengths. I started actively instilling a sense of autonomy by delegating tasks, allowing him to take ownership of projects. Consistent constructive feedback helped to develop his skills, and his work was now being noticed by executive management, leading to closer collaboration.

Results

The two of us successfully delivered high-quality content that was very well received by the clients – and we never missed a deadline. Were there mistakes? Of course. But each one made it easier to be honest with one another. We each became more receptive to hear what we could possibly improve on, and we established an easy rhythm to our working relationship, making it comfortable and even more productive.

The beginning

My own work and contributions were also favourably acknowledged by executive management, and there has been a shift in how responsibilities are delegated since my manager has returned from maternity leave. I would like to think that it is the ways of working I implemented that inspired the change.