One of the best pieces of professional advice I ever got came from someone who had no intention of giving it.
She was brilliant, brutal, and not remotely interested in mentoring me; and yet, she taught me something I’ve used throughout my life.
I didn’t like it, but she was right.
Here’s the story…
Early in my project management training, I hit a wall.
I had just [barely] passed my PMP exam and was in the middle of my first Six Sigma project — the last big hurdle before I could finish the green belt program. I was eager, overwhelmed, and convinced I had a people problem. One person on my project team was stalling everything. I was frustrated and ready to escalate.
That’s when she stepped in, the head of the program and a senior scientist in the organization. Brilliant. Respected. And honestly? Terrifying. She made grown adults cry on a regular basis. As the program administrator I knew, because they were generally crying too me. So, needless to say, she wasn’t warm. But she was the kind of woman who survived in a place where not many women did.
In 2005, women made up only about 7% of leadership roles in applied physical sciences. And the women who were there did not get there by accident. They were sharp, effective, and usually twice as prepared as the man next to them. So when I came to her, venting about how one person was holding everything up, she didn’t flinch. She just said: “It’s never the people. It’s the process. Fix the process and the problem will work itself out.”
No drama. No debate. Just that.
And I hated that answer (and her just a little). I wanted it to be about the person. That would’ve been easier.
Instead I went back, remapped the process, found more gaps, and cleaned it up. And like clockwork, once the new structure was in place, that person opted out. Left the team. And while I won’t say it was without conflict; the problem did solve itself. And the project moved forward.
That lesson stuck. It changed how I work, especially during my time in HR where we’re so often brought in for “people issues” that aren’t really about people at all. They’re about broken processes that allow confusion, inconsistency, or worse, politics.
She never intended to coach me, and I didn’t like her approach. But she gave me one of the best pieces of professional advice I’ve ever received. So here it is again, for whoever needs it today:
It’s not the people. It’s the process. Fix that first and the problem will work itself out.
Thanks Sonya!
