Hey Manager: Don’t Ignore Your Best Resource!

Sometimes the solutions are right there under your nose. When you work with a team, it can be tempting to give everyone jobs and just send them on their way with your blessing. Instead, look at your team members as the invaluable resources they are. What can the people around you help accomplish today?

Consider your formative years. Did you come up knowing everything or did the people around you teach you things you didn’t know you didn’t know? If you are like everyone, the latter is likely the case. You had books and mentors and teachers and parents and friends who helped you understand and grow and … know.

Your team members are people just like that. They have varying backgrounds and a host of influences and influencers in their past that prove they bring much more to the table than what they were hired to do. Sure, they may be young or old or focused … or even weird or shy … but that doesn’t mean they can’t offer wisdom or perspective you can use to achieve a better outcome than you could with only your perspective.

What influences did they have? What lessons did they learn about life? Where and how did they learn those lessons? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you don’t know your people — and you are ignoring what could very well be your best resource.

Nearly every person on your team was someone before they became your employee. Who were they, why and what was it about them that made them good — or terrible — at being that person. Why are they where they are and what do they want to get out of it? If you know these things you might just find both of you would be happier if they do work they are best suited for. And how can you even know what that work might be when you are focused on sticking them into a certain “spot” and demanding success. Yes, they were hired for a certain role, but could you swap them and someone else and end up with better results.

I’ve gone into firms where two employees were clearly doing work the other could be doing. Nothing — not compensation or authority or position, not anything — prevented the boss from making the switch … but she refused. They were so committed to the status quo they refused to see the reality right in front of their faces. Guess what. Both of those people quit, and that manager was forced to fill the position with two inexperienced workers who needed constant coaching just to accomplish the bare minimum. The whole department suffered because the manager refused to understand how to allocate her resources.

That story is not uncommon. But don’t let yourself be that person. Find the best way to use your people and put them where they can do you the most good. Everyone will be happier for it.

Roman Temkin is a real estate developer from NYC.