Coaching in Analogies #15: The golden scissors

A chief executive client mentioned that his organization was about to go on a construction spree, because federal dollars had started flowing into infrastructure again. 

“We’re going to need a lot of golden scissors,” he said.

His comment took me back to a time ages ago when the client and I had worked together in government communications. 

In my very first job in local government, I worked for an elected official whose entire office was littered with golden scissors. Golden shovels, too. These would fall over on a regular basis, terrifying the receptionist and causing the rest of us to mutter under our breath.

The golden scissors and golden shovels were office clutter. They were also currency.

Elected officials need to take credit for things, because doing so helps keep them in office. And elected officials bring press coverage. Cameras. Publicity.

So you’d invite the mayor to your ribbon cutting, even if the mayor had no role in funding, designing or constructing the thing behind the ribbon. Even if the mayor had no awareness of the thing prior to arriving at the ceremony. Even if the mayor had initially opposed the thing.

The facility or infrastructure improvement in question might have been open for weeks already, with the cutting of the ceremonial ribbon tied to the schedule of the most important person who attends. It’s all form and no obvious function. And at the end of the event, the ribbon cutters get to keep the scissors.

But this seemingly strange, seemingly silly practice from the world of politics illustrates an important principle in leadership.

It is relatively easy to share credit with others. And to do so often costs next to nothing for the one who is sharing.

In fact, whether it’s visibility or goodwill, the person sharing credit usually stands to gain a lot.

You can hand out as many scissors as you like, and make the ribbon as wide as you want. At some point you will run into a limiting factor: the photographer’s lens. So it is wise to think about how much credit is too much to share.

Coaching prompts:

• What’s one project or initiative for which you can share credit with someone else?

• What do you stand to gain by sharing the credit?

Image: Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons