Aaron J. Crowley

Stone Industry Consultant

The great thing about life is that it offers up a daily array of experiences, conversations, and funny stories that are instructive object lessons for those who are looking for opportunities to improve.

Take this last Saturday for example, I was invited to a men’s group at our church that was meeting to discuss the topic of leadership…and to do some skeet shooting.

I had “commitments” in the morning so I arrived after lunch for the afternoon sessions (and for what I assumed would be the gun-fun part of the day). But as luck would have it, they’d long since put the shotguns away and were digging in to a pretty deep discussion on what it means to be a servant leader in a work environment. (Serves me right!)

During this group discussion, a very humble young man asked a very good question.  

It’s a really, really important question if you have promoted one of your employees to a management role and put them in the awkward position of overseeing the work of the people they used to work along side.

The gist of his question was this: “How do I know where to draw the line between jumping in to ‘help’ out to prove myself worthy of my employees’ respect, and resisting the urge to jump in to ‘help’ so I can do the actual work of managing?”  

You see, he’s been promoted from amongst his peers, most of whom are older than he is!  What a lonely position to be thrust into, and his question demands our attention as owners and leaders of our own organizations.

This young man’s question has been nagging me ever since last Saturday and this is how I will answer his question if I’m ever asked:

A manager’s role is to train, facilitate, and encourage his team to meet the standards necessary to achieving the owner’s vision.  

Occasionally, he must enforce those standards and remove members of the team who won’t maintain them.

Role #1 – Trainer: The manager must train his team to think in terms of the standards the company has established to measure the work that delivers the product and service to the customer as promised. He must train them to know and refer to those standards in his absence. 

Role #2 – Facilitator: Once the standards have been clearly identified and stated to the team, the manager must facilitate that work by providing every resource necessary to achieve those standards. In simple terms, you can’t expect an installer to mix a proper glue color if he isn’t provided a complete colorant kit.  Adequate time is another resource that managers must provide their team in the interest of maintaining standards.

Role #3 – Encourager: All employees young and old, cynical or content, are desperate to receive sincere praise when they succeed in meeting the established standards of performance. They also need (and want) to be gently reminded and corrected when they miss the mark so the standard will be met next time.

Role #4 – Enforcer: Occasionally a member of the team is simply unwilling or unable to meet the standards and must be replaced by someone who is willing.

Is this to say that a manager never jumps in to help the sawyer get a piece off the saw table?  Of course not. Am I suggesting that a manager never helps drag an island up a flight of stairs?  Nope. 

What I am saying is this: A manager who takes these four roles seriously and passionately fulfills them will not merely be a “manager”.  He will be transformed into a leader who is respected by a team who will follow him to the ends of the earth before they begrudge his promotion. 

And an owner who helps his managers to understand these roles, will see his organization transformed.

Aaron Crowley is a stone shop owner, author, speaker, and consultant to mid-size stone companies. Contact him at aaron@fabricatorsfriend.com