107. I will be I

Dear Gerard,

Obviously, I agree with the contents of your last letter. But there must be something from the heart. In order to delegate decision-making powers and obtain ideas from your colleagues, the knowledge level of your employees must be high, so training is required. And at that point you often run into problems. And there is your contradiction.

You talk about wanting to be a facilitator for your colleagues, but to implement this transfer of knowledge is very difficult. You write, for instance, that when you do not have time to train or take control nothing happens and if you find that a problem is not resolved you take it over and finally you have difficulties if others have a different approach than you.

You want to be a facilitator rather than the boss, but you sabotage the necessary conditions to achieve this. You make it all about yourself. Do you really allow responsibilities to be delegated? This is like saying to your child go and learn to ride a bike, while keeping very close control over them and the bike. They never develop and that is because you are afraid that they might cycle away from you or will choose a different route, or if you do not have time you cannot keep an eye on your child.

Are you afraid that if you let go of your child he or she no longer needs you? Is that why training your employees does not go smoothly? You are always needed; they do not forget who taught them in the first place and who provided their opportunities.

If these courses run smoothly and your employees are better this will give you the time to do what an entrepreneur should do in the first place. Devising a strategy for the future can only get better because the quality of your employees improves and they will therefore deliver input of a higher quality to you so that your final product, namely, the strategy also improves.
Regards,

Erik