将能ありて君御せざるもの勝つ

Today, I was going through some of my old stuff, and came upon this. It is actually a verse from Sun Tzu's Art of War, the original Chinese text being 将能而君不御者胜. It means that when you have able subordinates, then the path to victory is not to control them tightly. This verse was used by one of my Japanese superiors as his direction for the division. To him, the important thing is to allow us subordinates freedom in carrying out our work, while his job as a superior was to create an environment that facilitates us in doing what we have to do.

Being in such a position now myself, and looking back at his guidance, I can say that this is something that I want to use for my own division now as well. When responsibility is placed on our shoulders, we have a tendency to become control freaks, wanting to know everything that is happening and wanting to dictate everything so that everything happens as we want it to happen. But this takes away creativity from our subordinates, and turns our subordinates into machines that just carry out orders. It stunts their growth and development. We are leaving them no room to grow and explore on their own, for them to learn and gain the experience needed that they may one day move on to greater responsibilities.

It is important to let go, if not to let your subordinates learn and grow, then at least for yourself to have a clearer picture from an outsider's point of view. From there, you can provide better guidance than being in the thick of action yourself. And of course, leaving your subordinates to do their job means that you can have the time to do your job too.