Supporting Responsibility

21st March 2013

There has been a lot of interesting coverage in the press recently about overseas aid, and perhaps nearer to home benefits for those who need income support to help keep them and their families fed and housed. Of course there are many needy cases, and I think most people agree that it is right to help where necessary. However, there is a potent counter-argument which says if you constantly give things away, so there is no longer a hunger, drive or even need to do anything for yourself, then you are not actually helping the fundamental issues.

Although you might intuitively think giving money to poorer countries (or people) must be a good thing, in fact it seems that the countries which receive the most aid do little to nothing to develop and better their country. In fact they just sit back and wait for the freebies. The same thing applies to some degree with the benefits handouts in the U.K. The more they get and the easier it is to receive help, the less people feel they need to do for themselves.

To take this theory into a business environment, once again the same thing applies. If as a business owner, or manager, you are too quick to cover for your employees, or even do it for them, you simply create a culture of laziness and /or dependency, they no longer seek to find out how to do things better, or how to learn from their mistakes, they simply carry on going through the motions, getting things wrong, hurting the business, but knowing that their lessons will pick up the pieces.

So next time you are tempted to do something which your employees should be doing, think again. You are not really doing them a favour, as you are stopping their self development, and restricting their ability to grow. Allow them to make mistakes, but teach them and encourage them how to take responsibility for themselves, and watch them flourish.

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