Dealing with egos/varying skills to keeping a project moving

[waragainstmyself]

Posing a hypothetical situation here:



2 colleagues, both have common skill-sets, but each has skills they are distinctly more versed/experienced/better in.



Colleague #1 - "Sam" is encountering a roadblock in a project that Colleague # 2 "Derick" already has a solution to solve. They have different method of solving it. Both think their methods are "better" insomuch that they know how to use them to produce results.



Sam is hesitant to let Derick take over the portion of the project he knows how to solve, because he feels like he is trying to prove that he is capable of that portion of the project, and Sam also wants to learn to the things Derick knows.



Derick already feels threatened because his value in the company is primarily in doing what Sam is trying to learn, and he does not know what Sam knows and is actively using to produce.



Derick also strongly wants to take over that portion of the project because he wants to move the project along in a timely manner, and knows that even if he completes that portion, Sam will still have work to do to complete the project that he is himself relatively unskilled at doing.



How does Derick convince Sam to be OK with taking on the first part of the project?



If you are in leadership and Derick comes to you with this problem, what do you do?

[mynewunit]

Good question. Jocko has answered this question in various pieces. The question worked around to who's plan do you use when your plan is better. The Jocko answer is you always go with their plan. The logic is that they will make their plan work, they will try harder for their plan, and they will have to own their plan. Jocko said the only reason he would stop someone from doing their plan was if it would get them hurt or killed, or if it was vastly tipped to one side, 10X.

The specific situation you are talking about has other variables in play. Trust. Relationship. Teamwork. Those issues need to be addressed holistically. If someone thinks they will be expendable if they train their replacement, you are not going to fix it with telling them who's plan to use. I would say an employee is much more expendable if they won't help their teammates. This is based off their experiences with the company. They may have seen it happen to a coworker. They may think it is possible for another reason. I would start from a perspective that this assumption is true. That being said, the goal would be to have more answers, plans, etc to train your replacements.

For the replacement, can we send him off somewhere else for training? Buy a book? Take a class? There is more than one way to skin a cat. Let him find a way.