“This Would Be Funny If It Wasn’t So Close To The Truth”

Editorial by Robert Kirwan

  Take a few minutes to reflect back upon your life and think about some of the achievements and accomplishments that gave you the most satisfaction. Chances are the times that come to mind are those when you were allowed the freedom to assume full responsibility for the results of your actions. Those are most likely the times when you were given a job to do and allowed the freedom to “do it your way”.

   I know in my own life I have always worked best when I was given a job to do, told the parameters within which I was to operate, and then permitted to make things happen in my own way. The times that have caused me the most stress and produced varying degrees of confrontation with my superiors were times when I was given the responsibility to do something and then “told how” to do it by the person in charge.

   In my many roles in life, as a father, a teacher, a business owner or a tutoring agent, I have always, always, always believed that if I was going to hold someone accountable for results I couldn’t supervise their methods. In other words, if I gave someone a task and told them that I was going to hold them responsible for the results, I had to at least allow them to do the job THEIR WAY, not mine. I may not have done the job in the same manner, but as long as they are not in any danger of hurting themselves or someone else, then I had to give them all of the help and support they needed and then demonstrate my confidence in their ability by GETTING OUT OF THE WAY and letting them do their job. Even if it meant that they failed, I would at least have demonstrated that I had faith and confidence in them to let them try it their way. If they failed, then they could try another way. Eventually they would get the job done and feel good about themselves. It may have taken longer, but they were better sons, students, employees or tutors for the experience.

   The problem we have in many areas of society today is that the LEADERS of business, government and even volunteer organizations spend far too much time finding fault and criticizing. It has reached such epidemic proportions that when I read the following story I couldn’t bring myself to laugh. Even though it is one of the funniest stories I ever read, it is SO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH that is just not funny.
  
   This is a story about two employees of a landscaping company and their supervisor, Sam. However, it could apply to many management / employee situations, including perhaps the one in which you currently find yourself.
  
   “Sam, a supervisor, was dumbfounded as he watched Bill diligently dig holes while Chuck, after waiting a short interval, filled them. When Sam demanded an explanation, Bill was indignant: "We’ve been doing this job for more than 10 years. What’s your problem?"
  
   "Are you telling me that for 10 years you’ve been digging and filling empty holes?" Sam replied.
  
   "Well, not exactly," Bill said. "Until a few months ago, another fellow put a bush in the hole before Chuck filled it. But he retired and was never replaced."
  
   "Why didn’t you tell somebody?" Sam sputtered.
  
   "My gosh," Bill answered. "You’re management. We figured you knew."
  
   THIS WOULD BE FUNNY IF IT WASN’T SO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH. Management styles today are often built upon control, especially when the positions of responsibility are filled with people who just don’t have what it takes to lead people. In many situations, when employees make mistakes, instead of using the occasion as a learning opportunity, managers often place blame upon the employees and make them feel inadequate or fearful of losing their job in order to demonstrate who is in power. Offering suggestions to a manager like this is useless since they feel that by accepting advice from employees they are demonstrating weakness as a leader.

    After a few years of this kind of treatment employees learn to adopt the attitude that in order to protect themselves from criticism, they will ONLY DO WHAT THEY ARE TOLD.  Hence, you get people like Bill and Chuck who simply continue doing what they’ve always done, even if it doesn’t make sense. After all, they can’t be blamed for anything as long as they are doing what they were told to do. It’s not their fault if things go wrong while they are following orders from management.

   We all find ourselves in “management” roles of some kind during our life. Regardless of the situation, you should remember that if you give someone a job to do, don’t supervise their methods. Let them do the job THEIR WAY as long as they produce the desired results. Give them the support they need and be there if they ask for advice, but don’t interfere unless YOU are willing to accept responsibility for the results.

   Have a good week!