A recent acquaintance mentioned in passing that she books her own travel because she does not want to "burden" her administrative staff.
My initial reaction to that was grudging respect...(Wow, what a team player)...
...and then a little guilt... (am I "burdening" the folks who I expect to book my travel?)...
...and then counter-argumentation... (hang on - is that a smart choice?)
You may think I'm rationalizing - and I'd love to hear from you if you do (in polite discourse, of course). But I don't think it is a wise choice to book travel oneself because it flies in the face of what I consider a key law of successful business:
Give a task to the lowest paid employee who can successfully complete it.
I entered the workplace on the cusp of the professional DIY revolution. That right whippersnappers, way back in the late 1980's. When I started, there were no laptops or desktop PCs (we had mainframes), no small printers (they took up entire rooms on different floors), no email, not even a floppy disk.
Things really have evolved pretty quickly in only a few decades. Now all but the most celebrated executives can type their own memos (make that emails), print 5 copies rather than having their assistant make copies, etc.
But there is an opportunity cost to some of the DIY tasks at the office. Things that work in the background - like those 5 copies - take no time. But some things detract from the work you should be doing. There is an opportunity cost, and I think it's important to periodically assess the tasks that nibble away at your day, and make sure you:
Give a task to the lowest paid employee who can successfully complete it.
There are several reasons I believe this is a sound strategy:
1. Economics
It's just more profitable to have the higher paid employees doing things only THEY can do. If the CEO takes 5 minutes to go to the copier and make a copy - not only did that copy cost 10-100 times more than it would have if the most junior intern had done it, it ALSO had an opportunity cost for those (expensive) 5 minutes not spent doing things only a CEO can do.
2. Visibility
For things like air travel, sure, we all have the Internet and click-click-click, we know how to book travel. BUT, there is a benefit to have some central control and visibility of the amount of travel being booked. If 100 road warriors are booking their own flights, it can very hard to get a handle on the gestalt of your travel.
3. Support
If you always book your own travel (or make your own copies, etc), there will come a day when you flat-out don't have time. In the middle of that crisis, you turn to a junior employee and say "would you..." You may face some confusion, resistance, martyrdom, or even mutiny. If you have NEVER ask for assistance, they may not know how to do it, they will have questions about your preferences, etc and all of that will come up mid-crisis. On the other hand, if you normally use an admin for travel, you get into a routine where he or she knows what you like and can quickly complete new requests...but you need a flight to Bangkok at 2am, you can book it yourself as the exception rather than the rule.
4. Hierarchy
It's politically correct these days to talk about teams, stakeholders, and collaboration - but let's be honest, we are not an autonomous collective of equally skilled and compensated partners. There is a pecking order, there are differences in skills, talents, and productivity. Doing what a junior person can/should be doing is not being a good team player, it's devaluing the team. And in some cases, it's denying the junior person the chance to try, fail, and learn at the tasks they need to master. You might say "booking travel is just admin work" - but there is a mastery there: learn to interact with different internal clients, balance priorities, keep good records, identify opportunities, etc. Seen in this light, it's a stepping stone to managing larger projects in a career. So why are you doing it?
Agree or Disagree? I'd love to know.
My initial reaction to that was grudging respect...(Wow, what a team player)...
...and then a little guilt... (am I "burdening" the folks who I expect to book my travel?)...
...and then counter-argumentation... (hang on - is that a smart choice?)
You may think I'm rationalizing - and I'd love to hear from you if you do (in polite discourse, of course). But I don't think it is a wise choice to book travel oneself because it flies in the face of what I consider a key law of successful business:
Give a task to the lowest paid employee who can successfully complete it.
I entered the workplace on the cusp of the professional DIY revolution. That right whippersnappers, way back in the late 1980's. When I started, there were no laptops or desktop PCs (we had mainframes), no small printers (they took up entire rooms on different floors), no email, not even a floppy disk.
Things really have evolved pretty quickly in only a few decades. Now all but the most celebrated executives can type their own memos (make that emails), print 5 copies rather than having their assistant make copies, etc.
But there is an opportunity cost to some of the DIY tasks at the office. Things that work in the background - like those 5 copies - take no time. But some things detract from the work you should be doing. There is an opportunity cost, and I think it's important to periodically assess the tasks that nibble away at your day, and make sure you:
Give a task to the lowest paid employee who can successfully complete it.
There are several reasons I believe this is a sound strategy:
1. Economics
It's just more profitable to have the higher paid employees doing things only THEY can do. If the CEO takes 5 minutes to go to the copier and make a copy - not only did that copy cost 10-100 times more than it would have if the most junior intern had done it, it ALSO had an opportunity cost for those (expensive) 5 minutes not spent doing things only a CEO can do.
2. Visibility
For things like air travel, sure, we all have the Internet and click-click-click, we know how to book travel. BUT, there is a benefit to have some central control and visibility of the amount of travel being booked. If 100 road warriors are booking their own flights, it can very hard to get a handle on the gestalt of your travel.
3. Support
If you always book your own travel (or make your own copies, etc), there will come a day when you flat-out don't have time. In the middle of that crisis, you turn to a junior employee and say "would you..." You may face some confusion, resistance, martyrdom, or even mutiny. If you have NEVER ask for assistance, they may not know how to do it, they will have questions about your preferences, etc and all of that will come up mid-crisis. On the other hand, if you normally use an admin for travel, you get into a routine where he or she knows what you like and can quickly complete new requests...but you need a flight to Bangkok at 2am, you can book it yourself as the exception rather than the rule.
4. Hierarchy
It's politically correct these days to talk about teams, stakeholders, and collaboration - but let's be honest, we are not an autonomous collective of equally skilled and compensated partners. There is a pecking order, there are differences in skills, talents, and productivity. Doing what a junior person can/should be doing is not being a good team player, it's devaluing the team. And in some cases, it's denying the junior person the chance to try, fail, and learn at the tasks they need to master. You might say "booking travel is just admin work" - but there is a mastery there: learn to interact with different internal clients, balance priorities, keep good records, identify opportunities, etc. Seen in this light, it's a stepping stone to managing larger projects in a career. So why are you doing it?
Agree or Disagree? I'd love to know.
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