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/

I need a team beneath me

I worked with a good guy for a long time. He constantly talked of needing to have a great support team so that he could do his job. He felt his boss was close-minded and cheap and would have nothing of it. I asked exactly what kind of team he needed.

As he described the team, it occurred to me that he wanted people who were actually better than he was at his job. People who would do the things he was paid to do, only better and at a lower salary. Having this dream team would afford him the opportunity to work the minimum number of hours, sit back and watch them perform, bring in results and ultimately, make him successful--without him having to break a sweat.

As you can guess, he didn't work out at this job. He went on to another job and then finally bought a business with dozens of employees. He talked to me years later and told me how hard he was working, how many hours he was putting in and how hands-on he was.

It's tough when you take ownership of your job or a company. You have to be hands-on enough to be in touch, but hands-off enough to allow others to grow and do what they do best.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
labov.com

New Economy Culture Shifts

With our economy shrinking, we not only are seeing lay-offs and smaller budgets to work with - we're also seeing a shift in company culture.

Whether it's our style or not, our company cultures will shift toward being more "hands-on." I just heard a minister tell his congregation that their church was under financial stress, but this was good because, "Maybe it's good that we clean up after ourselves and take out our own garbage." He wasn't being philosophical - he specifically meant that his church could no longer afford a professional cleaning service.

Most companies, large or small, will have less employees to do the grunt work, to do the clean-up that many of us have grown accustomed to avoiding. That, as the minister said, can be good.

Imagine if companies actually had owners and managers engaged in the customer's business - I mean truly engaged. Imagine if we all took out the trash, cleaned up after ourselves, turned off the lights at night and learned to do the basic maintenance on our computers?

That hands-on approach may result in a few mistakes here and there, but we'd learn a lot and our customers would see our face and hear our voice more often.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com

Too many resources?

One positive regarding the recession? Maybe some of us have had too many resources at our disposal. Maybe we've had it little too easy.

With less resources at our fingertips, we'll have to be more hands-on. We'll feel the pain of failure and we'll feel the excitement of success.

We won't have to find out about that stuff from our assistants or associates. That could help.