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#295 But I Don’t Want to be a Babysitter! (Sample Tip from Premium Area)
The problem is that we are all babysitters – or caretakers – of certain things and probably people to some extent. We are talking about everything you oversee, whether you own ten shops or are an apprentice tech, advisor, or office staff. There are things you are responsible for to make sure they are taken care of – both in your work life and your personal life. The further you advance, the more things there will be to watch over. The better you are at “babysitting,” the more successful you will be. So, accept the babysitting tasks and learn to master them.
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3 Replies
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The viewpoint of the observer will be based on their level of confidence in their ability to lead the team or individual. No clear training or “natural” ability in leadership will feel like “baby-sitting” if the subordinates are not self-motivated and or lack respect for the supervisor. Natural ability will only get you so far for so long, and works better when the role is more of a mentor.
When true leadership training has been received along with gained experience in the field (for our conversation it is the automotive industry) does the viewpoint of baby-sitting change to supervising and all the nuances and “tools in their tool box to solve challenges”.
A place this can be a trap is when the trained supervisor reaches their peak level of training and experience but no longer seeks further self-improvement that they miss the que and find themselves frustrated at a lack of forward progress with the “team” they are supposed to be taking some place special. You can often spot this person because they are jaded by the years passing them by and feeling the things, they used to have by the tail have now run off and left them. An example is an owner that gets a good dose of business training for a few years then goes out on their own no longer using the “coach” or ongoing training. For a short while, things go well, but all to often things go back to the way they were before and the bay-sitting starts all over again.
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I hear a lot of people say this and to be perfectly honest with you I used to think this. But as I experienced more and more different repair shops, I realized that the problem does not lie entirely upon our employees. It was me. As owners’ managers and leaders have created this environment of constant and never-ending supervision.
Sometimes as our hiring process, we don’t invest in them well enough to know what they’re capable of working independently and making decisions.
In most cases is our need as the leaders owners’ and managers to have full control over how things are done in our shop that created this problem. I cannot tell you the number of times I heard from owners they didn’t do it my way. Of course, they’re not doing it your way there are totally different people with different levels of experience education, and history. I think this really boils down to a couple of not-so-simple things.
No expectations. We hire people and we don’t set expectations, we don’t tell them what success looks like. So, they wander around our businesses doing what they think is right until we get frustrated with them and tell them they’re doing it wrong. 1 of the things that I’ve adapted when I hire somebody is to set expectations service writers what numbers are they going to be held accountable for, with technicians is what production looks like as far as hours worked and hours on site.
But really boils down to this if the customers are happy, the employees are happy and we made a profit, legally and ethically and morally is there a wrong way?
Teacher employees how to make good decisions show them what that looks like (expectations) and then let them do their job even if it’s different than the way you would do it. If the expectations are met there’s no wrong way of doing it.
Stop making every decision for your employees! When they ask you what they should do the response should be what you think you should do. If it doesn’t give us the expectations, we want then I would say something along the lines of having thought about this or did you think about doing this share with them how you would handle it in other words teach them different ways.
All decisions are made with 2 basic bits of knowledge.
1 the knowledge of the situation. What happened. 2 their experience level, how long they have done the job how many experiences that they had in making decisions.
I think this is more prevalent today because parents cannot allow their kids to ever make a decision. So, they go into the real world not knowing how to make a decision and never experiencing anything. Don’t continue this in your business. Yes, they will make mistakes, I call that tuition is a price you pay for education. The make the same mistakes over and over again they’re not learning the wrong person eliminate them from your business. But if the growing and learning that’s a good thing.
In most cases your employees don’t want you telling them what to do every time that they’re terrified of making their own decisions or making a choice because of your reaction to it. Set the expectations teach and share your experiences to make them better decision-makers and you might be surprised.
Most people in our industry do not start a business with the idea that they’re not going to be there every single day. In fact, they created a job for themselves. Alter your mindset to create a business that you do not have to be at. They provide you with passive income if you show up one day or no days. And I have a business like that means that you will not need anyone to be a caretaker or babysitter.
By the way your employees here you referred to yourself as a babysitter or caretaker, you are doing a great deal of damage to the relationship, they will not be long-term and plot employees in my opinion. I have a business that requires me to trust my staff and employees. Without intervention. I give them the authority to make decisions to make sure that will happen. If they haven’t fulfilled the minimum expectations of happy clients, happy staff, and profits, then we have a conversation about it. If they don’t learn, then I must plan to continue to teach or replace them.
It’s your business and to be perfectly honest with you the good in the bad it is your fault. You hired them, you train or didn’t train them, and you probably didn’t set expectations and hold them accountable to those expectations. So maybe the real question is who’s babysitting you?
I experienced this firsthand when I was out of my company for 6 months. Absolutely nothing to do with the company operation for 6 months. And during those 6 months, the company not only maintained its client base but grew. All our commitments were met the basics of happy clients, and happy staff and the company made a profit. In fact, during the six-month period, it paid for my daughter’s wedding while I was in the hospital. If you were out of your business for 6 months or longer what would your business, look like? For many it probably would not still be open. Think about that and stop the daycare and babysitting and grow employees to keep the business alive not for you, but for your family in case you can’t go to work someday.
Just my humble opinion
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No need to babysit when you train people to be good leaders! Easier said than done but there are many good ways to do it. You have to learn how to be a good leader yourself 1st. Let people make decisions themselves. Encourage it. Read “inspiring accountability in the workplace”. It will answer many of your questions and show you how to address these concerns. Many other good books on the subject as well.
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