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Tickle my roots... stroke my leaves, water my ground-gimme some Created by

Lehan Stemmet

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As managers we rarely allow people reporting to us to use their initiative, or if we do allow them it´s very limited, and yes, I know, we always say that we do - blah blah blah. Oh I know, trust me I know, just how difficult it is to give someone some sort of free reign in their ideas, because trust, competence, aptitude and all sorts of other things come into play. In fact, sometimes it´s about more than just trusting the other person, it´s more about our own pride in "letting go" of certain tasks.

I remember working for a company where I was put in charge of a couple of reps... and funny enough, also still remember thinking: "what the hell am I doing in charge of reps, when I suck at doing sales - rather gimme an excel spreadsheet or scientific problem...anyway...whatever...let's just do it", not realising that it's about more than just knowing how to do sales and being good at it. In fact, I remember many other management / leadership positions I held, even at school... for the following reason: One of the most difficult things for me, as a person, to do is to let go of certain tasks and let someone else do it (maybe you can relate). Why? Because on some level I also rationalise my lack of wanting to hand tasks over by saying: "I don´t know if so and so is ready yet." It's all semantics. We say: "I'm handing tasks down", instead of saying "handing tasks over", let it be sales, operations, HR, whatever tasks. 

Fact: how will I ever know unless I give someone else the opportunity to give it a shot and show what they´re made of. Sometimes, well, more often than not, handing a task over to someone else opens up a huge number of other possibilities, and responsibilities. Never mind the possibilities it opens up, think about your job as a manager or director, for example. Your role is to manage or direct the company... please note that people shouldn´t be managed, they should be guided, lead, mentored, and coached.

Now, here´s the lesson I learnt a long time ago, but only GOT IT later on... when I empower somebody else to do something, I not only get new ideas, but I also get the opportunity to share experience, knowledge and also. My time is more available for other employees in order to teach and mentor them and also learn from their experience - so I don´t have to do and think of everything (you know the feeling, right?). Consequently your management style changes from 10% leading people and the company vs. 90% admin to 20% admin and so on vs. 80% mentoring people, investing in their lives and future by providing them with feedback, resources, and just being a person (to put it in colder and possibly more contentious terms, i.e.: 10% : 90% person : manager vs. 80% : 20% person : manager). Some managers, in fact, most people in general are so afraid of showing their human side in business because they are afraid of being exposed as being weak. The fact here is: you are a person, I am a person, we all feel certain emotions and showing your human side is most certainly not a bad thing. We´re afraid of being taken advantage off... but guess what, YOU draw that line and it´s very easy to draw that line - contrary to popular belief.

This approach is not about handing your workload down to others so you don´t have to do anything... it´s about (and make sure that this is your approach and reason for handing work over) sharing in people´s growth - sharing in your company's growth. One of my biggest concerns while working at a sales and marketing company was: "...if ever this company closes down, what will our reps do... what other skills have they learnt while under my management in order to further their careers... what will they do with their lives when leaving this company... will they remember me as a plain difficult, full of nonsense manager, which I was, or as someone who was hard on them, tough on them, but also someone who was very fair, open-minded and willing to invest my time into their lives... someone who´s door was always open for them to come and chat about anything, from their frustrations at work to their joys after buying a new car...etc?"

The point here, at the end of the day is: you don't need your marketing and sales force to feel unmotivated because they're not included, empowered, "let loose" to use their creativity... their instinctive knack for the job. Sales and Marketing can be a very lonely place sometimes. Sell your employees to themselves, market their value, credibility and competence to themselves. Provide them with feedback - every person I know wants some kind of closure, for the lack of a better word. They want to know where they're standing, how they are being perceived, whether what they're doing is good enough, and if not, why not. Man, this all sounds so airy fairy - yet it's such an important part of a business that is often neglected because we are so busy with the things we're doing (normally putting out fires or avoiding fires) rather than what we should be doing, like, I dunno - uhm, planting and nurturing fruit bearing trees in the hearts of people - providing compost (training and motivation) for their growth, pesticides (coping skills) and so on. 

A line I picked up from a movie that was on TV recently puts it so eloquently when a school teacher was asked to give her job description: "I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders." AKA: what´s the point in having all the experience you have to do your job as a manager or director, but never sharing it in the growth of your peers? I´ve learnt more from being asked questions by people I managed and guiding them, than from sitting behind 1000 page biochemistry and psychology textbooks - why? Because when a new kid on the block has the balls (excuse the pun) to ask a superior why something is done in a certain way it stimulates informal or formal Q&A sessions, which stimulates communication, which stimulates solutions, better solutions, which stimulates company growth. It´s a very simple equation really. But like most staticians, mathematicians and scientists have experienced for years: a formula is coined as amazing, based on its practicality, it´s relevancy and usefulness... not the impressiveness of its complexity.

 

 

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Lehan Stemmet is one of those rare people who studies one thing and ends up doing something else. His brother reckons: Shrinks are mad, Scientists are eccentric, Marketing people are dilly and Authors just completely lost touch with reality... so much can be said about this young bloke who studied biochemistry, microbiology, psychology and industrial psychology, who ended up in marketing and well, who got his first book (Deal With It - emotional empowerment) published in the USA - show some sympathy, right!

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