KEEP WORKING EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE EMPLOYEES

LAW: Excerpt from the book
48 Laws Of Architectural Consulting

KEEP WORKING EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE EMPLOYEES

Don’t hire staff to replace you, hire people to help you keep being great at what YOU do.

As is very common with every business owner or professional practitioner, the moment they find someone who can stand in for them at work, they become lazy and start skipping their own CEO duties. The tendency to become slack with tasks that they ordinarily would have attended to keenly sets in and this is a natural human feeling often fueled by the belief that they (employees) are being paid to do ‘the work’ therefore we don’t have to do anything, any more.

Alas, nothing can be further from the truth.  In every case we studied, tonnes of Architecture firms folded (or at least started folding) right after the principal started leaving off simple tasks they performed earlier to new employees who were found to be lost for what to do most of the times.

What these principals failed to understand is that; these employees only joined your establishment either to make ends meet or to learn from you and build a good portfolio or both. They are typically younger and inexperienced. So when you abruptly assign them work that requires your own eye and attention and look away or stay away, unexplainably all the time, your productivity drops and your clients can clearly tell once this begins to happen consistently. Remember you are always been judged.

Arguably, it is through assigning your subordinates tasks that you afford them the opportunity to grow, learn and become better at the trade, but you must remember in the business of Architecture, you ( the Architect) are your own brand, and about 99% of clients commission you because they trust you, and not your staff.

However, when you realize that there is only much you can do alone as a person, you employ staff to help you continue being you. If you understand this, then you’d appreciate how fatal it can be for your career to assign tasks to your staff and look away (or walk away).

Keep working even when you have employees. This is the sacred rule for principals of flourishing Architecture firms who are typically drowned with projects, and easily fall under the temptation to delegate everything and just go home and have ice-cream. Don’t do that!

Be seen by your employees as the hardest working member of the team. This will encourage them and challenge them to be like you and when they are of this mindset, they’ll bring out the best in them for any project.

Download a copy of the book:
48 Laws Of Architectural Consulting 

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