At my office the bosses/owners do the cleaning. Three of us share the vacuuming, toilets and rubbish. This morning as I vacuumed away I contemplated getting someone else, that is a cleaner, to do it. This led me to think about whether I would do what I asked someone else to do. Thinking about it made the vacuuming go a lot faster and I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.
To clarify, my thought for this morning was, would you ask someone (generally a staff member) to do something you wouldn’t do?
Most people who have started a business have been everything in that business from sales person to toilet cleaner. They started doing everything and worked their way out of each job as they hired someone to do it for them.
The same goes for corporates, you started in the mail room or as an intern and worked your way up. An apprenticeship – something New Zealand let go off and is now counting the cost with a lack of excellent tradesmen.
Maybe watching Nikki Kay MP collecting rubbish on TV last night put this thought into my head. Because she had to get out there at 3.30am and collect rubbish off the city streets. Not a job generally associated with being an MP and it really gave her an insight into the amount of rubbish generated by Auckland City. Amazing amount.
This week have a think before you ask someone to do something. Would you do it? Have you done it? Pausing might give you an insight into how you do business, run your household or get a sale. It might even show you ways you can improve them.