Be More Responsible: Give Away Responsibility

In David Gilbertson's best selling book Wine Bar Theory, he shares 28 jargon free rules for being more successful in life and work. Rule 14 explains how true leaders give away responsibility rather than hoarding it.
Be More Responsible: Give Away Responsibility
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When you are growing up, your parents and teachers tell you what to do.

That's a good idea because when you are growing up you haven't found out whether sticking your head in the fire is a good plan or not. You also don't know your multiplication tables, so having someone make you learn them is better than going your own way and not learning them.

Adult-child, teacher-pupil relationships are very good for young learners. They are not good for grown-up businesses that want to grow more.

People in business need to be responsible. Unless you want them to behave like children that is.

People need to be given responsibility for things and encouraged to take on more when they can.

They want to be told the rules and given support. They don't want their job done for them. 

The people in business best placed to make decisions are the people closest to the actual work. That applies as much to the doorman as it does to the big boss.

The best person to take decisions about the opening and closing of the door, letting people in and showing them out, is the person in charge of the door.

If the boss wants to take those decisions, s/he had better be ready to be on the door all the time.

Since there are plenty of other jobs in the business as well as the door handling, that's going to be tough.

Any boss that tries to do that is running two bad things at the same time: a business that can't grow, and the risk of a heart attack. Also, they can never go on holiday. Or visit a wine bar.

Bosses like that think they are indispensable. The graveyard is piled high with them. While they're alive they can never rest.

Except they can rest assured of one thing. No one will ever do anything without asking them first or deviate from what they think were their instructions. So the boss had better be sure they thought of everything when they told them what to do.

That boss also makes it clear that initiative and ideas are not welcome. So anyone who has either of them offers none, or leaves.

Since we know people with ideas grow businesses, that's a problem.

Don't let it happen. There is no need. The responsibility you delegate you never actually lose. You just make others responsible for it too.

Then you can reward them for how well they look after it. They will usually do it well because it is theirs and they have several reasons to care and nurture it. People spend their own money better than they spend other people's.

Businesses where everyone feels responsible don't blame people if someone makes a mistake. They set about fixing the problem and learning from what happened.

A business that doesn't blame doesn't fear. Businesses without fear do brave things. In Wine Bar Theory businesses people aren't afraid of responsibility.

To read the rest of Wine Bar Theory go to:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/0714865834/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_GGlmDbAZZ22ZT




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