He did what he was told but still got sacked

It was the 1930’s and the 13 year old boy’s first day on the job.

The foreman at the foundry that made axe heads and pick heads was a gruff old bugger and he did nothing to make the young bloke welcome or at ease.

“As the axe heads and the pick heads get delivered to you, your job is to try to break them.” He picked up the axe handle with a freshly cast head attached and swung it hard into a block, testing to see if it could take the force.

The young bloke was keen to impress. He got stuck in. Being resourceful, he found a way to swing the handle hard and strike the block at a certain angle so that most did break on impact. He felt pretty chuffed. That was until the foreman checked in with him at lunch time.

“What the bloody hell have you done” he roared. “I broke em, just like you told me to” the boy replied. He was sacked on the spot.

This true story was told* by a participant at a ‘Becoming Better Leaders’ workshop last week when we were discussing effective delegation. The boy in the story was the participant’s grandfather. It reinforced the need when delegating to be clear about context and feedback.

Click here to download my CREST Effective Delegation handout.

*As told to me by Peter Ainsworth

Greg Mowbray is The Better Leadership Guy. He is a leadership speaker, author, mentor and consultant. Email him at [email protected]