Too Many Cooks in The Kitchen

I have had many jobs where I report to more than one superior, while also having had jobs with a higher level of autonomy. The worst was my job in corporate banking, where I had roughly 10 “bosses” to whom I reported to. This was the catalyst of me leaving corporate America to do something entrepreneurial.

These situations happen all to often in work environments where efficiencies are damn near non-existent and the only thing keeping the company afloat is the shareholders. As a manger and in my staging business, I try to be as hands-off as possible, given my trauma experienced working for publicly traded companies. I may even be “too hands-off”, but it certainly beats spending my time micro-managing everyone and getting no real value add work done myself.

One of the most liberating things you can do for your employees is to give them autonomy. At this point, you will see who can handle the responsibility and who will crumble under the pressure or slack off when not watched. This goes without saying that quality control must be measured, and that training should be effective to ensure they are completely unsure of how to spend their.

The best thing you can do for those working for you is give them responsibility and get out of their. After all, don’t you want to be sipping margaritas one day while your business operates on autopilot, rather than still doing all the work yourself?