I thought I was helping by always jumping in to fix things for my crew

For years, if one of my guys was struggling with a tricky pipe joint or a clogged main line, I would just take over. I figured it was faster and got the job done right. Then, about three months ago, we were on a big repipe job in a house in Springfield. My apprentice, Mike, was having a hard time with a solder line. I went to grab the torch from him, and he just looked at me and said, 'I need to learn how to do this, Nina. I can't watch you do it forever.' That hit me hard. I realized I was being a control freak, not a good boss. I was stopping them from learning and making them feel useless. Now I make myself stand back and talk them through it, even if it takes longer. Has anyone else had to learn to stop micromanaging?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren6388d ago

Wait, you were just taking the torch right out of his hands? I can't even imagine that. How did you not see how bad that was before he said something? You're basically telling a guy he can't be trusted with a basic part of the job. No wonder he finally spoke up.

the_lee8d ago

Honestly it was about safety, not trust. The guy was new and kept making the same mistake with the valve. Sometimes you have to step in before someone gets hurt, not after.

betty_kelly98d ago

Yeah, that reminds me of a buddy of mine who ran a small carpentry crew. He had this one kid, real green, who was scared to run the big miter saw. My friend would just push him aside and cut every single piece himself to "save time." Like @wren638 said, it totally killed the kid's trust. The kid almost quit. Then one slow afternoon, my friend just pointed at the saw and said "show me." Took an hour for one cut, but the kid figured it out. Now he's the one training new guys on it. My friend says it was the hardest hour he ever spent, just watching and biting his tongue.