Leadership: The Bathtub Model

Music Edward Muzio: Hi, I'm Edward Muzio, CEO of Group Harmonics and I'm going to tell you about leadership using the Bathtub model. Have you ever been the leader or the sponsor of a team and you felt like you started off very much engaged with the group, but as you backed away, maybe there are worried you didn't carry anymore. The bathtub model is a tool that you can use to understand that change and describe it to others. Here on the vertical axis, we have the leader's participation. This is how much you talk and interact with the team. On the horizontal axis we have time. I'll just put a clock here. This could be in days, weeks, or months depending on how long the project will go on for. Now early in the project, here at the beginning, we are going to draw of the start. And at the start, you as the leader have a high level of participation. Here you are high in the axis. You are pulling the team together. You're defining the scope, etcetera. Now, fast forward to the end. This is when the project has come to conclusion. The team's got the result, you're rewarding and recognizing them and you're pulling the results together for upper management. Again, as the leader, high level of involvement, but it would be a mistake to assume that your involvement level would stay this high throughout the life of the project. When you draw the bathtub model, draw a picture like this. As the leader, your participation will come down, stay at a low level for much of the project and then come back at the end. This is the bathtub shape. And this is a way of telling your team, look, I'm going to get out of your way. After we start, I'm going to back away and allow you to use your expertise to do your work. I'm not going to micromanage you up here. I'm also not going to go all the way to zero. Notice, I am going to be somewhat involved, somewhat engaged. Now, here's where the analogy work so well. You can say as the leader I'm going have a low level of engagement for much of the time, but if certain things come up, I'm going to be more engaged. If there's a change in scope or direction, if there's a conflict within the team or between this team and another one. If there's a check-in point that we agree on or if I'm going to check-in on the status. Of course there's a clarification you need to get your work done. What's going to happen? I'm going to "bubble" up. I'm going to get a lot more involved and I'll be highly involved for a little while, while I'll deal with these issues. After the issues are over, I'll drop back down to the bottom of the tub, get out of your way and let you do your work. Now, drawing this model has a couple of benefits. First of all, you're letting the team know what to expect before you back away. That way, they don't think you're making an excuse. You are actually explaining they should expect you to come down this low. The other thing it does is it reminds you as the leader. Notice what's going on here. You are not at zero. You are never at zero and so you as the leader need to be watchful. Paying attention for changes, conflicts, check-ins or clarifications needed so that you'd know when it's time to bubble back up and get involved. So, the next time you are chairing or sponsoring a project as the leader at the very beginning before anything starts, take a few minutes, sketch out the bathtub model. Let your team know what to expect. They'll appreciate not being micromanaged, they'll know what to expect from you and they'll know to come to you when they have an issue because you are going to bubble up and help them.

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