When I was a child, like his father before him, my father was a volunteer firefighter. He was part of a humble group that was in charge of protecting the surrounding communities that were not part of the city. With a couple of firetrucks and a few support vehicles, they had a lot of ground to cover. If for whatever reason, they became overwhelmed, they could rely on nearby fire departments to lend a hand. However, if you are managing a small car dealership, you don’t enjoy that peace of mind of being able to ask for help. Nearby dealerships are often the last people to lend a hand. If there are too many fires, something is going to burn to the ground.
Professional management is a rather new vocation, as such, much has been written about it (if you can only read one, Peter Drucker’s book, coincidentally titled, Management is all you’d need to check out). Many would point to World War II as the factory that first produced today’s strategic management. With millions of moving parts, thousands of men and women needed to coordinate the interactions in between. Had they failed their jobs, thousands of lives would have been lost.
Although a car dealership isn’t a multi-continent battlefield (some conferences would suggest otherwise), there are still many moving parts that need to be synchronized. Unfortunately, far too many rely on just one or two people to keep all of the parts working. Like bees moving from flower to flower, these individuals feel the obligation to touch everything all of the time. In their mind, they are thinking they are doing what best for the dealership. However, like the rural fire departments, they have limited resources. If too many fires break out, these micromanagers can’t be all places at all times. They must decide what fire needs to be put out first, what can smolder, and what’s salvageable.
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