The World's Best Employee Died in March 2007

If you’ve never heard of Skidboot, then you have missed the kind of employee that every manager dreams about. He follows directions exactly, never wavering from what his boss tells him to do. He became famous for his ability to follow directions and made his boss wealthy by following his plan. Some might say that he is perhaps the best employee that any manager could ever have. Others would say that he is the kind of employee that will always be a follower and never a leader.

Leaders have their own ideas and their own ways of getting a job done. Leaders often butt heads with others who feel that their way is better. But, if employees are always willing to follow, they will never become the kind of leaders that can transform a company. As a manager,  you may like the way Skidboot performs and you may feel proud to show off his  skills to others.  After all, everything his performance is due to “your ideas”, not his. But, how do employees like Skidboot feel about their work?

If you give someone a job to do, give them room to put in a few “tricks of their own” in to the act. You never know. The tricks they come up with might just be good ones too. And when they are able to contribute some of their ideas to the company, they will leave work feeling proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish. They will leave work each day feeling valued and respected for their contributions too.  Why not give your employees a chance to strut their own stuff? And now…see the wonderful Skidboot perform. He is perhaps the smartest dog that ever lived. Certainly, he’s alot smarter than any dog I’ve ever known. Sadly he died in March 2007.