Pit Crew

Racing around the track, jockeying for position, pushing that finely tuned vehicle to its max, the driver pulls in for a pit stop and the crew, in a perfectly orchestrated show of what seems to be chaos, tunes and tweaks every part of the car before it peels out to win the race.

Which character do you embody more the driver or the pit crew?

Ah, but this is a trick question.  You are reading a post on leadership and management, so you are the pit crew.

A leader is the pit crew and the employee or the teammate is the driver. It's completely up to the driver to focus on driving the car, and that's all they should focus on.  They were brought onto the team as a specialized member, someone with specific skills to do a specific task.

It's the pit crew’s job to make sure everything is working right; to make sure the tires have the right pressure and the right tread, to make sure that the fuel levels are appropriate, and to make sure all the bolts are tight.  They watch the gauges, the weather, and the track conditions.  The pit crew makes sure everything is in tiptop shape so that the driver can focus on their sole objective.

The manager or the leader is the pit crew rather than the driver.  It’s up to us as managers to make sure everything runs smoothly so that your employee is out there driving as fast as possible on the specific tasks you want them working on without any other worries.  The leader is keeping an eye on progress, timing, budgets, markets, industries… all the gauges and metrics that may need adjustment while the team is working their specific task.

That is also why it is important for the leader to not get into the details of the work.  They will begin to lose track of the metrics.  Imagine the driver of the race car jumping out to change a tire every pit stop.

If you answered ‘pit crew’ above, it is a great sign leadership is within you.  Keep working and building those skills.  We are here to help with that.

If you thought ‘driver’, that is OK too.  There is nothing wrong with embracing your specific skills to benefit the teams you are on.  But, if you are currently a leader or think leadership is in your future, it may take some extra sole searching to understand yourself.  We are here to help you with that too.  You need to be happy in your role, don’t let outside influences push you in a direction you are not comfortable with.  No matter driver or pit crew, the best teams thrive with happy teammates.