“People will work hard when they are given the freedom to do the job the way they think it should be done.”
The Nordstrom Way – by Robert Spector & Patrick D. McCarthy, page 99
Chapter 4: The Nordstrom Culture
I am a one-man band, so when it comes to handling, managing, and motivating employees, my opinions must be weighed from whence they came. (“Whence” is a cool sounding word, but I am not certain I used it correctly in the last sentence.) If I had employees they might have corrected me. That brings to light one glaring weakness of working alone: you have nobody to correct you or improve upon your idea.
And if everybody thought and acted like you, everybody in your company would not know the proper usage of the word “whence.”
Successful entrepreneurs who grow their business find out sooner or later that they might just need some help. But “help” in most instances comes in the form of people, and people are often times hard to figure out. Especially, when they don’t think like you do.
Just the same, the worst thing you can do moving forward it is to de-motivate your help by micromanaging their efforts. Granted, they may not be as good as you are at the job, but they must learn as they go, which by definition means they must fail at times.
Show your vote of confidence by allowing your employees to make decisions on their own. As long as they don’t bring the ship down by doing so, your organization will grow while continuing to be a fun place to work.
Mike presents a business-building webinar on the third Thursday of every month sponsored by AmaWaterways. To receive monthly invitations send Mike an email with the words “business training” in the Subject Box. You will also receive a link to the recorded version.
For information on Mike’s Fourth Annual Training Cruise, email Mike at mike@mikemarchev.com with the word “cruise” in the subject box.
