“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

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If the leaders in an organization large or small are autocratic and controlling then people are always consulting them for direction. The autocrat leader is essentially giving employees fish on a daily basis and inhibiting creativity because people are always consulting with the higher authority for direction and approval. Employees never learn self reliance, creativity or problems solving. Companies with autocratic (level 4 leaders from good to great) don’t scale or succeed without the leader providing fish to the team.

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Collaborative organizations empower employees and provide both fishing poles and a pond(s) to fish in. Employees equipped with fishing poles are self reliant and entrepreneurial.  Fishing poles provide teams the ability to fend for themselves. The leader still provides the pond; however, employees use both the fishing pole and pond produce results. The fishing pool is empowerment and the pond frames the boundaries of responsibility.

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Does your organization feed employees flounder or give them a fishing pole and let them feed themselves?

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Great organisations provide the tools for independent and creative thinking.
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Ian Graham

Filed under: Camp Culture, Commercialization, Entrepreneurship, Innovation by Ian
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