Find your indispensable employee and fire him
As managers, we all have one. You know, that special employee we go to whenever we want to make sure a job or task is done correctly. No matter how much potential the rest of our team has, we always give the special jobs or the best leads to our “man to go to.” Sooner or later, this team member becomes indispensable to our operation and to the success of our own leadership.
When this happens to you, there is only one thing to do. Find your indispensable employee and fire him. You may think this is tough, but if you want to be successful in leadership, you must learn to lead without going to the person. Here are six reasons why you should. (A point of clarification, I do not mean leadership development, but an aspect of team dynamics).
You become dependent
Once you start using someone as a “man to turn to,” you become dependent on that person to make sure your own work is done. If you know they will get the job done, don’t worry about learning how to do the task yourself. Worse still, it stops monitoring work and doesn’t track results.
If one of your employees is that good, he will eventually get tired of following your shadow and move on to another job. At this point, you’re at a loss because you haven’t learned how to do the job yourself or developed the other members of your team to help you.
Failing to recognize the talents of your team
Often times, by assigning the most challenging task to the same person all the time, it is not recognized that there are other team members who can do the work. If you’ve done your job well, you should have surrounded yourself with team members who are qualified and trained to handle whatever task the team faces. It is a known fact that many people will only meet the level of expectation that you have of them. In most work situations, the majority of your team wants to be challenged at work.
Not developing / training other team members
Another negative result of depending on a “man to turn to” is that you fail to train and develop your team. A key part of being in a leadership position is offering training and guidance to all team members to help them reach their full potential.
One of the most obvious problems with this glitch is that you will be left without a backup plan when your “go boy” leaves your team, because eventually he will leave. It’s your job to train every member of your team so that any one of them can take on any task if another team member leaves.
Fight in the team
Remember when you were in school and the teacher had a favorite student. What did you think of that teacher and the “teacher’s pet”? The same can happen on your team if you have a favorite “go to guy”. How do you think the rest of the team feels about the “boss’s pet”?
The most common result of favoritism is low morale among the other team members. Unconsciously his work begins to suffer and the productivity of the team begins to fall. The results are that you, as the team leader, do not look good in the eyes of your boss.
It is also a possible result of having a “man to turn to” that the other team member may sabotage the work and performance of the “boss’s pet.” Again, the upshot of this is that you, as a leader, look bad on your Boss.
Giving too much authority
Another possible problem with your continuing to trust your “go-to guy” is the tendency to give them too much power. If he gives up too much of his authority, the “man to turn to” can become the pseudo leader of the group. The other team members start looking for instructions and answers to work problems for him. This could cause you to be unaware of what is happening within your team.
This wouldn’t be a problem if your goal is to develop a leader, but if you only trust him to get the job done, it could result in trouble for you as a leader. The final problem arises when your boss begins to go to the pseudo leader because he believes that he is the one who knows what is happening in the team.
Stabbing in the back
Lastly, there is the possibility that your “guy” and / or the entire team will try to sabotage your job and your position with your boss. Usually this is the result of a loss of respect for you as a leader due to the favoritism you show your “boy to go to.”
Most of the time it’s your “go-to guy” who stabs you in the back. If it’s as good as you think it is, you will eventually wonder, “Why do I need it?” The upshot of this is that you will begin to take steps to make sure your boss knows who is actually doing all the work.
If we are good leaders we are working hard to develop and train our entire team. Yes, there will be times when one team member shows greater leadership aptitude than the others and we will focus more effort on their development. But we can’t do this at the expense of the rest of the team. That’s what leadership is all about.
Turning a “man to turn to” into an indispensable employee will lead to your ultimate failure as a leader. Having a strong and well-trained team will help ensure your success.
Isn’t it about time you fired your essential employee?