Thanks for the assignment, now let me do it

Have you ever been given a task by a friend, family member or work colleague that seemed pretty straight forward until you actually started to do it?

Simon worked in an office for a multinational and whenever a visiting director or vice president would take a tour, his manager would ask him to join the tour and take photos of the senior person doing business type things: inspecting a printout, shaking hands with employees, smiling while the looked at a screen over someone’s shoulder and the like.

[quote_left]His manager would stand behind Simon and tell him things like “Zoom out, zoom out,” or “Make sure you get him looking at the presentation,” and “Oh! Take a photo now! Now! Now!.”
[/quote_left]Simon hated it.

Not because he was actually an intelligent analyst and taking photos was beneath him – he actually enjoyed tagging along and getting to rub shoulders with the upper-ups.

It was his manager that actively managed the photo taking that drove him nuts.

His manager would stand behind Simon and tell him things like “Zoom out, zoom out,” or “Make sure you get him looking at the presentation,” and “Oh! Take a photo now! Now! Now!.”

You can imagine this particular manager was probably like this in all aspects of his management style and not just for photo taking.

Believe it or not, Simon’s four years of undergrad, two years of working abroad and subsequent masters from a prestigious university actually made him quite a competent point-and-shoot photographer.

The manager needs to do one of two things: either trust Simon to take the photographs or do it himself.

As a manager, if you give someone a task, give them the proper instruction before they start and then trust them to do the job to the best of their abilities.

Photo by Marjan Lazarevski