Ways to distinguish yourself #141 – Pass the baton smoothly

Imagine this scenario:

You are in a relay race. You are the second person in the team. The race begins and when your turn comes up, you pick up the baton and run like hell. The speed is great and you cover a lot of ground in a very short time. However, when the time is up to pass the baton, you fumble and drop it. The next person in the team is ready to receive the baton but is confused. He somehow picks up the baton. Again, runs like hell but can never make up the time lost due to the time lost in recovering the baton in the first place. Long story short – your team loses the race.

In the above scenario, the cause of failure was very clear. Unfortunately, in real life,things are not that black and white.

Transitions are part of our life – both personal and professional. In fact, without transitions, life may be boring. On one hand, if there is no change, we complain of monotony. On the other hand, if there is a lot of change, we resist and complain about uncertainty and the unknown. It seems obvious enough to observe that many of the projects that we are involved today will continue long after we have transitioned out of those projects. In fact, we really WANT every single one of those projects to continue smoothly after we transitioned from them.

Two things are important –

1. Who do you pass the baton to

2. How smoothly do you pass the baton

If you pick the wrong person to pass the baton to the second point almost becomes irrelevant and a non-issue. If you find the right person to pass the baton to, the second point – how smoothly do you pass the baton becomes important. Here’s why: The person who picks up the baton from you quickly wants to hit the ground running. Everyone is watching him and his every move in the first few days and weeks. He or she wants to succeed in the role and needs all the help that he needs. This new role MAY also be a big change for that person. Passing the baton smoothly will not guarantee the person’s success but not passing the baton smoothly will increases the chances of the person’s failure.

Now, things to think about:

1. What are some of the major transitions coming up in your personal and professional life?

2. How can you plan to ensure that these transitions are smooth?