“If you want something done right, do it yourself” is a well-worn cliché. But, as Zaida Fazlic, Taiga Building Products’ VP of people, culture, and change management, explains in an upcoming Hardlines podcast, it makes for poor management advice.
At a time when succession is the number-one concern for many businesses, “We need to think about investing in the next generation of employees so that our businesses can go on and be viable and successful in the future.” That begins with delegation, says Fazlic.
Trying to get everything done yourself, she acknowledges, is an understandable temptation. “There’s a lot going on. There’s an expectation that we need to get a lot done in any one day. And it may seem efficient to just do it yourself, and it may seem faster to do that. But in the long run, it’s not sustainable.”
If a store becomes a one-person operation, what happens when that person is no longer around? “When I look at the data that’s out there, the expectation is that most of the baby boomer generation will be entering retirement age in the next five to 10 years,” says Fazlic. “So what that means is that we need to invest in upskilling, mentoring, and coaching the next generation, who will step in to make sure that the business remains an ongoing concern and is successful beyond any one generation.”
Experienced managers bring a wealth of knowledge that is key to running their stores and invaluable to their team members. “But we have to figure out a way to download that knowledge and wisdom to the next generation.”
(Hear more of Zaida’s insights on succession, delegation, and what the advent of AI means for the industry in the next episode of What’s In Store, the official Hardlines podcast series. Click here to sign up for updates about new episodes in your inbox!)
