Sometimes life throws us a curve. We think we’ve got it

together, and we’re doing the right thing – only to find out

that we didn’t really know what the right thing was in the first

place.

Take Michael for example. As a department manager in a major

corporation, Michael had 24 employees under his supervision. He

was kept fairly busy supervising those employees, ensuring

quotas were met, and reporting to his supervisors. Michael also

spent a fair amount of time trying to impress those supervisors

and the corporation’s upper management; you see, Michael was on

a quest to climb the corporate ladder and was working hard for a

promotion.

When the promotional opportunity arrived, Michael was confident.

His department had met their goals; he had made sure of that.

He had become quite good at assigning duties and delegating

responsibilities and following through with employees who didn’t

or couldn’t fulfill those tasks. Frankly, he thought of the

interview process for the promotion as a formality – he was by

far the best candidate.

The morning of the interview, Michael entered the conference

room in his power suit and tie, prepared to recite his

accomplishments to his supervisors. Imagine his surprise when

he looked around the table and not one supervisor or

administrator was present. The entire committee consisted of

employees in his department - the very employees under his

management! Their roles quickly reversed as one employee

explained that the company decided those best able to determine

if a manager should be promoted were the employees he worked

for. Michael was stunned – he didn’t work for them at all –

they worked for him!

That is where Michael was wrong. The company believed that a

manager’s role is to make it easier for employees accomplish

their jobs, to remove any obstacles in their way, and to make

sure they had the all the tools and training they needed to get

the job done. In essence, his job was to help them! Michael

was crestfallen as he realized that he had been managing his

department under an entirely different philosophy, assuming his

job was to give orders, and his subordinates were to follow

them. Michael’s management style had backfired; if he had

helped his employees, they most certainly would have recognized

and rewarded his contributions to their team.

Put yourself in Michael’s shoes. Imagine being told you lost

your job but could reapply, all you had to do was receive the

recommendations of your subordinates or coworkers. Would you

want your fate resting in their hands?