In one company I was told to fill out a painfully detailed template when asking for people to be assigned to my team.

On one occasion, I asked for someone’s time that resulted in the person being 1% over-allocated. The person’s manager showed up in my office and made a fuss about the problem I created.

Do you want to know how I resolved the problem?

I reduced my request by 1%.

When I asked what problem this process was solving, I was told how this process was implemented to solve a conflict between two managers. The process meant the two could avoid talking to each other.

Unfortunately, they didn’t solve the problem with this process. They only avoided the discomfort of the problem.

You can’t solve people problems with process. It takes leadership, empathy, and being with the discomfort to solve people problems.

Oh, and if you didn’t know: it’s always a people problem.

You’ve got this.