The One Man Show

I Can Do It Better

     The majority of us got into a management position because we displayed a higher aptitude towards our jobs than did our peers. But regardless of how we got where we are, typically we are going to be better at our job than those for whom we are responsible. The temptation therefore, at least for those of us with a strong work ethic, is to do as much as we can and only delegate those things we feel can't be screwed up by a lack of experience or an over-eager attitude.

Why "We" Is Better Than "I"

     But by having consistently low expectations and/or requiring little or no responsibility from your employees you may be missing out on some huge benefits.

• Find Out What They Are Made Of

If you were promoted from within likely you were working in one of the positions for which you now oversee. Chances are that you stood out for that promotion, as we already struck on, because you excelled at the responsibilities you were given. Think about how difficult it would have been for your boss to make a decision about promoting you if you hadn't been given any opportunity to shine. 

• Keep Up Morale

Good employees will always need a sense of accomplishment. It is imperative to their spiritual well being in the work place.  If you don't give them anything to accomplish, you rob them of the opportunity to feel that sense of accomplishment, and make work all that more of a 'daily grind'.

• Give Yourself Time To Manage

A lot of employers will say "My employee does not have the capacity to perform the task to the level required." or "My employees don't always do what I ask of them in a timely fashion." Which leads to the attitude: If you want something done you've got to do it yourself. But if you are doing everything yourself, what time do you have to manage?

Refining The Machine

    There is a certain point where we may realize that an employee is just not fit for the job. But since your position or local laws may prevent you from taking the appropriate action, I am afraid that the termination of employees will remain outside the scope of this post. You should however, be able to recognize this point and (position and laws allowing) be prepared to take action.

     For the rest who do have the potential to be good employees, how can you measure that potential if there is no responsibility? If you used a yardstick to measure the depth of the ocean you would be able to tell me that it was deeper than three feet. Now, the ocean is pretty deep, so it would take a pretty long stick to reach the bottom. But, the point is that if you only give your employee three feet of responsibility then you will never find out just how much they can handle.

     Do a simple check:

• Is the employee well versed in every aspect of their job
• Are there any opportunities to learn other positions
• Has anything changed within the business that would require retraining

     If an employee is uninterested in expanding their responsibilities (assuming that they are not already over-burdened) I would seriously consider reevaluating their fit to the business.

A Dynamic Workforce

     Finding ways to challenge your employees can have many benefits; not only benefits for your employees, but also benefits for you. For instance if each employee were to know every aspect of their job you may find that you were more inclined to leave your  micro-managing-spectacles at home. Or if they had been trained in other positions you may suddenly find that the migraine that has always popped up when someone calls in sick doesn't visit anymore. But regardless of what benefit you may reap, you can also take pride in knowing that you are fostering a more competent workforce.

The Summary

     If you don't have the time to make sure your 'machine' is running efficiently, then most likely your employees have too much time. You have employees for a reason and it isn't because of budget surpluses. Don't encourage incompetence. Recognize it and eradicate it. Your life will be easier for it, your business will run smoother, and very likely the lives of your employees will benefit.

Make Friends Elsewhere

Know Yourself

      I would like to say that I am a natural servant leader whom people follow out of sheer respect. But in reality it is my nature to be a borderline pushover who values the favor of his employees entirely too much. People might think of me as a friendly manager most of the time but I know that things could be run a lot more efficiently if I could just bring myself to put my foot down more often.

Isolate Your Weaknesses

Recently I have analyzed myself in order to uncover the reasoning behind this bad practice. What I discovered probably won't come as a shock to anyone. An unconscious habit of attempting to control how people perceived me, an irresistible craving to be accepted and a constant search for approval. This desire to befriend every person I worked with put me in a very compromising situation. Every decision I made now had to be weighed against my work ethic and its potential social damage. Giving me the distinct disadvantage of being only as effective as my relationship with my employees allowed.

Take Action

It took a serious priority reboot to override my natural instincts and I often still have to make a conscious decision to reorder my priorities. I always knew when I was sacrificing efficiency for approval so there was never any struggle to recognize these situations. All that was left was to simply take action. There aren't many of us who are a perfect fit to management straight out of the bag. But knowing where we fall short definitely helps fill those gaps.

In Summary

I don't believe there are people who simply "aren't cut out for management". I believe there are those who aren't willing to give it the time or effort and therefore fail on their own accord. But just like any problem, once identified it's simply a matter of applying the proper remedy. In this case it was the awareness to recognize when a decision was being affected by my social insecurities, the resolve to act on that observation and the willingness to reorganize my priorities accordingly.

Introduction

     In my own mind the perfect company would be one that uses all of its resources to the fullest extent prescribed by their respective endurances. To that end we have all tried to bend, guide or coerce our employees in order to improve overall performance. But for every action there is an equal but opposing reaction. Knowing the future would be a business owners dream, but being able to predict a reaction is almost as valuable. Therefore I would like to explore the physics of management and its practices.