I have spent much of the morning resisting the temptation to be myself.

In a good way. I think. Or at least a productive way.

What usually happens when someone stuffs up at work is this:

1. I point out the stuff up and suggest a way to avoid this in the future. I do this in a friendly manner that perhaps doesn’t get the message across as forcefully as it should, but, contrary to the opinion of my mother, I’m not up for out and out conflict at the first possible moment.

2. The stuff up happens again. I correct the mistake, or do what needs to be done, myself. Not because I’m a big martyr, just because most of the time it’s easier and ten times more efficient. Once I do the thing myself I let it go. I’m not hanging on to “this person is an idiot, I had to do it myself” – life is too short.

The same applies with contextual variations, to almost every other part of my life. The cleaning habits of house-mates being a classic example.

But as I move into a more managerial position at work, it is becoming more apparent that my approach falls down in a couple of areas. First, and most obviously, I cannot actually do everything. Not enough time in the day. There becomes a point when taking things over (or back) in order to make my life easier leaps that line into making my life harder. Second, the person stuffing up (let’s call them the “stuffee”) is never going to learn to pay proper attention if they don’t keep getting their mistakes sent back to them to chase-up and correct.

Of course there comes a point where the stuffee has crossed the line into total incompetence at which point I’m taking the job back for good because they no longer work for us, but that’s a whole other matter.

This morning a stuff up came to light of a similar nature to one that appeared last week. Neither was the end of the world, both were complete pains in the arse, and both the Boss and I are still fixing. (Fixing in this case because we’re the only ones with the authority to do it, not because we’ve got frustrated and taken the work back.)

But I have been good. I have resisted the temptation to take back that whole area of administration and just do it all myself every week. I have sat down with Priscilla and the new trainee (who’s official nickname is now “Howdy” because of an odd habit I may or may not explain at some later date), explained the mistakes, the way it has to work, the fact that it’s important and that it’s their responsibility but that I’m going to be watching them like the proverbial hawk. Firm and fair but not so friendly. And I have given the job back to them.

All day I have been telling myself that this is not a task I need to do. It’s not a task I have time to do, and even if I did my time is much better spent elsewhere. It’s been delegated for a good reason. I was happy when I could delegate it. I want it to stay delegated and be done properly.

I must satisfy my urge to control by merely supervising. My life will be easier if I do this.

Or it will all blow up in my face when a stuffee does something truly stupid. No! Stop it!

My life will be easier this way. I will be a better manager this way. I will. I will successfully resist the temptation to be myself.

Though only in relation to this.