The Boss of You

Heard this story on the radio this morning and thought it was an interesting lesson for employers (and managers, for that matter):

Workers Who Feel Trusted Will Boost Sales and Provide Better Customer Service: Study
Companies that communicate their trust to employees will see superior sales and customer service performance, says a psychology researcher from Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.
[…]

Of course, this is another one of those studies that isn’t exactly rocket science. If your boss communicates mistrust towards you, of course you’re not going to perform well. However, I suppose there are likely some nimrods in the world who need to be told there’s a profit margin involved before they decide to treat people decently.

My interest in this story came from my experiences as someone who finds it difficult to delegate. I need constant reminders that I’m helping everyone in the office when I spread the work around — my employees get a chance to broaden their skill sets and take on more responsibility, and I get my nose off the grindstone long enough to look around and see how everyone is doing. So for those of you who have difficulty asking for help (even when help is available), perhaps this study will provide food for thought.