I once interviewed with a manager
who complained
that her subordinates
didn’t take any initiative.
They did the bare minimum
and that was it.
The first day
I worked for her
I found out why.
One of my new co-workers
told me
this manager redid
anything they did.
She was right.
The manager redid all of my work.
I worked on
secret ‘extra’ projects
until I could transfer
out of her department.
“…if you try to take over
or get involved with tasks
that you’ve entrusted
to members of your team,
it could have a negative impact
on employee initiative.
Team members might feel like
you don’t trust them enough
to do the work properly
—or they might just do
the bare minimum
because they assume
you’ll take over
the rest of the work anyway.”
Hire people you can trust.
Train them well.
And then allow them
to do their job.
There are other tasks
you should be doing.