When I started as a First Line Manager, one of the most frustrating experiences was not getting an answer to the question asked. The shop floor team seemed to prefer answering the question they wished I would ask. It usually got me ticked off, and I always interpreted it as people being shifty.

As I developed as a leader, I realized that I usually already knew the answers to the question I was asking, and within their tangential answers, laid the biggest opportunities. So these days, I go to wherever their answers lead. And usually, I come out with more than my initial question would have revealed.

It is one of the serendipitous ways that a frustration can become a gift as one grows in understanding.

– Osasu Oviawe