Having some downtime during the holidays, I thought it might be fun to put together a puzzle. My wife, Susan, is a big puzzle fan, so when I suggested we do one, she was happy to oblige.
Next thing I knew, she had brought up six boxes of puzzles—with pieces ranging from 500 to 1000. After looking at each of them, I selected one with 500 pieces.
Susan immediately laid all the pieces out on our dining room table and set about creating the outside edges. I found a certain color area that had about 30 pieces, and after multiple tries, put about five of them together. Then my patience ran out.
Over the next several nights, Susan continued to work on the puzzle. Each night, I would go over and put in one or two pieces. After about a week, she had nearly completed it all. It took me about 10 minutes to fit in the remaining 15 random pieces. I’ll give Susan all the credit for “our” accomplishment—I put together about 25 pieces, while she did the remaining 475.
Nonetheless, I did feel a sense of accomplishment when that last piece of the puzzle went into place. It felt good! It also got me thinking that there are a few leadership lessons to be learned from putting a puzzle together with someone else.
Think about it: At work, the leader comes up with an idea or strategy, and after formulating it, they present it to the leadership team. Then the leadership team gets it done. The key is teamwork—an idea without a plan of successful execution is like a puzzle with all the pieces just laid out on a table. That puzzle won’t put itself together!
Here are a few of my thoughts:
- Leaders without good, dedicated people will have a hard time getting things done. The puzzle was my idea, but I NEVER would have finished it on my own. It would have stayed on the dining room table until the next time we needed that table. Of course, I didn’t do most of the work, either. In a company, the leader might very well come up with the bright ideas and figure out ways to make the company better, but a good leader is not afraid to then step aside and let the experts on their team execute the plan. The real work is done by the people in the trenches.
- Give credit where credit is due. An effective leader gives the credit to those who implement the ideas—to those who do the actual work. Put the spotlight on them, and you’ll shine just fine in their reflection.
- If you are not making progress, take a break or bring in someone else to help. Both strategies give you a fresh and different perspective on a problem. Taking a break—with all the pieces to the puzzle laid out in front of you—allows you to return with renewed energy and usually find the piece you are looking for. Similarly for a leader, stepping away from a problem allows you to see what’s missing or wrong with a situation. If you need more assistance, rely upon trusted mentors or advisors to help sort through particularly difficult issues.
- Success or failure often comes down to a single piece of the puzzle. I was surprised to find a few pieces that fit together perfectly but were actually in the wrong places when I looked closer! As a leader, your first strategy might not be the right one at the right time. Look closely at what’s happening around you. Maybe you need to back up or start over. If so, don’t put it off. Make that move or change. Just do it.
- Find joy in the process—not just the final product. Yes, you’re working toward a goal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t savor what you have to do to get there. Be present for your team. Celebrate small wins. Those wins will quickly add up.
- In the end, all the pieces go back in the box. There’s always another project (or problem) waiting in the wings. Take what you’ve learned with the one you just finished and move forward with confidence, energy and wisdom. And what if you finish the puzzle (or solve a problem) and a piece is missing? You might just have to learn to live with that outcome. Nothing in this world is perfect. Some problems are not solvable. Take pride in what you have accomplished, however imperfect it might be, and move on.