PMcrunch

Most of us are familiar with the old story of the tortoise and the hare. They raced each other one day and the hare raced off to a rapid start, took a nap, and continued the race in a cycle of rapid sprints and long naps. By contrast, the tortoise plodded along slowly but steadily to the end of the race, albeit at a very slow pace throughout. In the end, the tortoise actually won. While slow and steady may win the race, the best teams make the most out of both the tortoise and the hare. Here are my thoughts.

The tortoise is a great team member for most any team. The tortoise is reliable, steady, predictable, and, eventually, gets the job done. The tortoise can be counted on to methodically and predictably execute on tasks and to deliver the goods. The tortoise on our teams is not always the best or most knowledgeable player; but, more often than not, tops the list in reliability. It pays to have a tortoise on the team.

The hare, by contrast, is often quite unpredictable. Actually, should I say that the hare is predictably unpredictable? When a sudden short-term request comes about the hare is just the sprinter that we need. The hare can deliver — and fast! Oftentimes, the hare has some really topnotch skills and can be relied upon to push out the work not only quickly but in a high-quality manner.

I have deliberately focused on the strengths of both the tortoise and the hare. As I think about it, one’s strength is the other’s weakness. Yes, the steadiness and reliability of the tortoise are exactly the hare’s weaknesses; the speed, rapid response, and highly concentrated effort of the hare are exactly the tortoise’s weaknesses.

In my opinion, the bottomline is that we need both the tortoise and the hare on our teams. Project needs will draw on these strengths and a team of tortoises or a team of hares truly will fall short. I think the lesson here is that we need not only to recognize that we can benefit from both types; but we need to put forth the effort to make sure that both the tortoise and the hare can survive on the team, because there will be times when each is needed. We need to create a project-team environment that accepts and leverages the strengths and weaknesses of both the tortoise and the hare.

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John Reiling, PMP
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