If your workers think that you’d never do what they do, you could be sending a bad message. Workers feel discouraged when they think that you either don’t know how to do their jobs, or you think you’re exempt from doing that type of work because you’ve already “done that.”

After all, you had to pay your dues and do the dirty work for many years to be promoted to your “posh” position.

But getting involved with the day-to-day on-the-job tasks will provide you with multiple benefits:

• It will show your workers that you’re not afraid of a little hard work. They’ll also respect you more when they see that you don’t think doing their work is beneath you.
• It will keep you involved in the workflow. If your workers are complaining that a process needs fixing, the best way to evaluate the problem is to dive in and experience it first hand.
• It will give you empathy. You’ll understand your workers’ concerns much more when you face the same frustrations they do.

Filed under: Management Minute