I’ll be the first to admit it: my work environment is still iffy at best. I get along better with my clients and every other team except my own. It is a pretty sad existence when your ‘team’ doesn’t behave as a TEAM and really makes no effort to do so. In fact, it is the exact opposite. They go out of their way to ostracize me and leave me to my own devices rather than be inclusive. Which is fine with me. To a point. With personal relationships you don’t ever want to have someone that you are supposed to have a trust relationship lie to you. With professional relationships it is no different and slightly worse because there is an impact on other workers and, possibly, your client.

Let me make this clear: DO NOT try to lie to someone who has the technical experience of being both a programmer and a designer. DO NOT try to lie to someone who has been a certified Systems Administrator in his past and who is used to performing audit trails for security purposes. And finally, DO NOT try and cover up your mistakes or drag someone else in to do it. Admit you screwed up, issue a mea culpa and move on.

On my former teams I’ve tried to make sure that each of my colleagues and employees were well rounded and informed about the technology. Why? So that nobody could pull the wool over their eyes when they moved up the corporate ladder. By instilling what I’ve learned and my philosophies about what it means to be a manager into each of my employees I think that it has given them the tools to lead people effectively. I had always pushed for them to learn and be certified in systems administration, multimedia applications and even security. I pushed for them to do more and to learn more. I wanted them to be better and to know as much as I know and I gave them every opportunity to learn from me. My thirst for knowledge became their thirst for knowledge. Sharing my experience and management style with them – being completely open and honest about situations in order to think and plan both strategically and tactically – helped prepare them for when they would rise to lead others.

This is why whenever I speak with Harrison, Matt, Liz and Jay I am overjoyed hearing about what they’re doing at their jobs. I know that they are leading their teams not only with compassion and concern for each employee but also with the technical abilities to act as a leader. I like to think that they are experienced enough now to protect themselves by using some of what I’ve shown them. They have the tools to think outside the box and see and interpret what is happening outside of their projects to see how it will effect them and to plan their best course of action.

With my honesty and openness with all of my colleagues and employees in the past we’ve learned to implicitly trust each other. I had faith in them that they would do the best that they could do and that they would tell me when they ran into a problem. I didn’t have to worry about them going behind my back or doing something potentially damaging to their team, their contract or their client. By changing the way we thought, from an individual standpoint to a more holistic view, we had been able to enjoy success and respect throughout several organizations.

Now, not so much. I can’t even get notified when people are leaving for a meeting, much less even try to car pool with them.

Unfortunately, it is this kind of behavior which could drag down both a team and a contract. There is no trust relationship nor is their any effort to try and establish one.