I gave the staff problems, issues and assignments. I always let them develop and implement the solutions. The only time I would intervene or put pressure on them is if things had to move faster.

Also I had no problem with failure as long as it was a good failure.

One thing I had going for me is that the bulk of my group’s work was an operational mission. That allowed us to get daily wins and close things out pretty quickly. We did have a number of long projects but it was normal to get an issue at 9am and for it to be closed out that same day. Also it was a fun job.