By George Keralis, DMin —
I’ve been mowing my lawn for several years. I have a set pattern: two or three times around the yard and then back and forth from north to south and south to north. By following this pattern I can stand on my deck or look out the picture window and see the pattern. At times I must remind myself that my name is not Nebuchadnezzar.
Recently one of my wife’s piano students let me know that he was looking for a job mowing lawns. He was paying off a new iPad and needed to earn some money. He’s a good kid, polite, respectful and has a great sense of humor. Sure, I would let him mow my lawn.
Following his piano lesson one day, he and I headed for the back yard. He laughed at the way I lock my shed – a rock in front of the door. I showed him what I wanted him to do and trusted him to mow my lawn. Going back inside to prepare a sermon I heard the mower going and going and going and going. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. Moving to the deck I got his attention and reminded him to empty the bag now and then. He smiled, laughed and waved his hand. After a few minutes he emptied the bag, once.
When he finished the back lawn, he respectfully hunted me down. At our garage door he slipped out of his work boots and came into the house. Getting up from my work I showed him the side and front yards that needed mowed and trimmed. Within a short time he finished his work and was ready to call home for a ride. I made sure that everything was in order, paid him and visited with him about his new iPad. He’s a great kid.
After he left for home, I remarked to my wife that he did a particularly good job, but he didn’t mow and trim the lawn the way I mow and trim the lawn. She laughed and I laughed.
Someone taught me an important lesson years ago when I started working with volunteers and new staff. If a volunteer can do a job for you at 80% or above as well as you do the job, leave them alone and let them work. Their methodologies and strategies may be quite different from your approach. You didn’t recruit or hire the volunteer or employee to do things exactly as you would do them. If you did, then you are a dangerous micromanager. You recruited them to conduct the task on your behalf at a level that was either slightly below your ability or equal to your ability.
Your task as a leader/manager is to encourage your new employee/volunteer to find avenues that allow her/him to not only do the job as well as you can, but to excel and improve beyond your expectations. While you will be able to share some of the pitfalls that you met along your way, your hope ought to be that they will improve upon your strategies and methodologies. Let them get the job done for you. Help them to improve where improvement needs to occur. Praise them for what they do on your behalf.
Two other things did bother me about this young man’s work. On a return trip around the yard with the mower, he did miss a patch of lawn about a foot long and one inch wide. What really bugged me, though, is that he mowed the lawn in less time than I can do the lawn and didn’t seem at all phased by the work. He’s just a kid at 14 and I’m, well, I’m much older than 14.
For Further Consideration
What other important keys do you use to unlock the potential in volunteers or new staff? Do you have a difficult time letting lose of your responsibilities because you fear that others won’t measure up to your standards? How are you dealing with this leadership issue? Your voice is always important. Thanks for reading. Leave your comments below.
