Giving up control...

There is this book club initiative I started at work. The sole purpose of this initiative was to help myself and my colleagues to develop critical soft skills and enable them to be successful in their personal and professional life. Well, the initiative is a work in progress and has been partially successful at best. There is a group of 7-8 people who attend regularly while other people came, sat through the meetings (as usual busy on their laptops) and never to return again. It doesn't bother me since,as they say, you can get the horse to the water, but not make it drink it.... anyway their loss. But that's not the purpose of this post.

Senior managers have appreciated this initiative. A few weeks back, a thought stuck me. I decided to divest myself from running this initiative by transferring the leadership role to the group members. So, now each month one of the members takes over the group, comes up with the agenda, runs the meetings, decides the activities etc - total control. Now why would I do such a thing. Most people want to hold on to power, status etc and here I am doing the exact opposite. Well, I believe, if you really want to be successful, empower your team - give them full freedom and power to run their affairs. While I maintain a watchful eye, so that the group does not digress from the main objectives, I have empowered the intended beneficiaries to take control and do what is relevant for them. Now, I don't need to do what I think is right for them - they themselves decided what is right for them and what is it that they want to improve in themselves. Today we had a meeting and needless to say it went quite well. People are gradually opening up and talking about their shortcomings and seeking suggestions on how to overcome them. It is a very collaborative environment and hopefully the end result of my decision turns into a positive outcome for everyone.