Friday, July 8, 2011

The Battle of Hands-on

Whether it's at a dealership, store, corporate headquarters or at a small supplier's business, we face the same things every day. It's a battle between being the helicopter pilot hovering over the scene and being a ground troop waging hand-to-hand combat.

Provocative thought: the more you avoid the hands-on and day-to-day, the more it is elevated. The ground troops, if left up to their own devices, will be free to do more than they are equipped to do and without the guidance, can lose the war or certainly not wage a good battle.

The general still needs to walk the ground, listen to the troops and play an active role. The troops need the input--the good and the not good, they need to learn, and they need a real leader.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

2 comments:

  1. Only you, Barry Labov, could tie the functions and capabilities of ground troops and a military general to practices in the business world, and have it make perfect sense. It’s a pretty amazing analogy, and found myself constantly nodding my head in agreement. This problem is one I often see at retail stores, with a lot of employees there not able to find that healthy balance you speak of that makes an establishment successful.

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