Wikileaks cablegate, roll over. Big news cares only for
Vince-Cablegate now. Few among you will have missed the story about
the Business Secretary accidentally slagging off Rupert Murdoch
fairly mercilessly - declaring, in fact, 'war' against the media
mogul whose attempt to buy a majority stake in BSkyB Cable is meant
to be adjudicating - and the ensuing furore.
To top off the injury of blatant impartiality rule-trouncing,
Cable added in a little insult for good measure - calling the
Coalition government 'Maoist' and asserting he could bring the
government down if he walked out to undercover Telegraph
reporters.
There have been plenty of cries from Labour calling for Cable's
resignation. Ed Milliband is among them. Twitter-luvvie
Labour MP Tom Watson calls Cable an 'ignorant, hypocritical buffoon'. And the
general conclusion on Radio 4's Today this morning was that, had
Vince Cable been a Tory minister, he would have been sacked
immediately.
The reason he hasn't is essentially because he's too important.
Although the arrogance of Cable saying, 'I have a nuclear option...
if they push me too far then I can walk out and bring the
government down' no doubt grated painfully with David Cameron, it
is, more or less, true. Though Cable has been stripped of much of his department,
most prominently any responsibilities for media regulation, he is
still the second-in-command Lib Dem and in the cabinet. The
Guardian explains: "After a series of emergency
meetings, which included George Osborne, the chancellor, Clegg felt
he could not afford to lose the second most senior Liberal Democrat
from the government."
Many other politicians have had to resign over much less than
this. But David Cameron desperately needs to keep Nick Clegg and
the Lib Dems onside if he wants the Coalition to survive. Allowing
it to begin dismantling a mere six months in could risk a
re-election in the not-too-distant future. And, having just
aggravated a whopping percentage of people who have ever been to or
thought of going to university, an election is the last thing the
Conservatives want right now.
We're not about to wade into the political debate about whether
keeping Cable in the cabinet is the best move the Prime Minister
could make. But in among this whole debacle lies a delicate
predicament for small business owners and employers.
You want your team to be the best: to be smart and capable
(Cable is widely regarded as a leading economic mind), well-liked
(he was arguably our most popular politician before student fees
shot up), and all the other attributes that fit the role. But when
they start being so good at a role that to lose them would leave
your organisation vulnerable, or even liable to crumbling, you're
in trouble.
You have no guarantee that an employee won't leave on any given
day for a role more lucrative to them than the one you provide. You
have no guarantee they won't made some almighty balls-up which in
any normal situation would require letting them go (see above).
So while you want your employees to feel indispensable through
the consistently valuable contributions they make to your business,
you need to avoid them actually ever really becoming
indispensable.
This is particularly difficult in small teams, when it often feels
like team-members are an inextricable part of the process (and when
you have the likes of Seth Godin coaching employees how to become
so crucial to an organisation they become un-sackable, in his book
Lynchpin).
How can you tell when an employee has too much power? How can
you make sure they continue to grow and flourish, and handle all
the responsibility you don't have time or skills for, while still
keeping a very subtle lid on their place in the business?
There are no clear cut answers to any of this. But there are
warning signs. If you feel you are leaning particularly heavily on
one team-member, or that you would be near beyond coping if they
left, try to reassume some of the responsibilities they hold -
albeit subtly. If nothing else, it will help take the pressure off
them.
There is a fine line between invaluable and indispensable.
Without being obvious about it, you need to find where that line
lies.
HR advice aside, do you think Vince Cable should
stay or go? Here are what some of our @SmartaHQ followers think -
we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section
below.
@OnlyForwards: I admire him for
standing up to Murdoch but he should have been a bit more
circumspect. He dropped the ball on uni fees though.
@henryblackUK: Cable learning
it's easy to appear wise in opposition, but difficult in Govt, when
decisions have real impact on people's lives.
@marketingwizdom: stay!
@Darrelwalters: I have read
certain press articles. Just confirms the hypocrisy within
government and they have no moral compass.
@JoeCushnan: Vince Cable used to
be THE most respected politician as a sage observer. Now in a real
job, his credibility is unravelling fast.
@shamilnunhuck: I hate him (I'm
a student, going to uni, the year the changes will be
made).
@thefreelancefd: They all should
go and let the electorate vote on their current manifesto.
@Squidgybug: It's Xmas. Let him
stay. It's all a mess anyway so he fits in well.