Today, while on my morning walk, I heard a loud noise from behind me.

It was a truck that was moving very slowly and it was very loud. I turned to see that it was a cement mixer coming up the hill.

Questions started firing in my head about cement mixers and so, I Googled them.

Did you know that cement mixers, more appropriately called concrete transport trucks, rotate their drums one way on their way to their destination and the opposite direction when they get to the site. They rotate clockwise to force the concrete into the drum to keep it well mixed and to keep it from setting. Then at the job site they switch to counter-clockwise to force the concrete out of the top of the drum, into the chute and out of the truck.

Did you know that most concrete trucks have steer axles, drive axles and extra axles? The extra axles can be raised or lowered so that the weight of the concrete can be more evenly distributed and prevent road damage, especially in hot temperatures.

It's that last fact that I found most interesting - sharing the load and distributing the weight.

It's a concept whose benefits we often overlook in our lives and in our work.

My experience in working with managers has been that too many of them seem to think they have to do more work than any of their team. They call this "leading by example", and it's a bad idea.

More specifically they think they need to do the work of the team, sometimes in greater quantities, than any single member of the team. On top of that they need to do the hiring, the firing, the development, the discipline, the reports, the analysis, lead the improvements, document the processes, and all the managerial type stuff.

True, there are things only the manager can do, but false, they have to be the hardest worker on the team and "lead by example" the term they use in exchange for "I can't delegate effectively".

If that's the best way to manage a team, then why are there no one-wheeled cement trucks?

When a manager learns that he or she can't do it all, and more importantly that other people have other talents, then the team becomes truly effective, and productivity goes up. Not by a little, but by a lot.

Like the cement mixer that lays down extra axles to put wheels on the road and evenly distribute the weight, so should managers give meaningful tasks, projects and assignments to every member of their team.

Some of the worst managers are those who were the star individual contributor on the team and got promoted to manager because of that performance. In most cases, these star performers are NOT great managers, because what they did best was be the star of the team.

The manager is just a different member of the team with a different assignment. They are not required to be the best of all the workers on the team. If that's what your organization requires, find a new organization.