When you’ve been on the job a long time, you know that shortcuts aren’t always shorter.

So when one veteran towboat captain was labeled as “stubborn” for refusing his crew’s new ideas, he decided to relinquish control and just go with it.

But before long, everyone was forced to admit his way was way better.

Keep reading for the full story!

OK Boss, we can try it their way.

Let me say up front, I loved my job in the barge towing industry.

After 50 years in the industry, I have done it all and done all of it almost every way possible.

With his vast experience, he’s learned a thing or two about how to get the job done.

I know how long it will take to build tow, connect the barges together after clearing them out of the fleet moorings, but mainly I know the easiest and quickest way.

Our story begins on a nice hot summer day, three barges to clear out for a refinery run to pick up product.

Part of the job is to onboard new crews, and he does so with ease.

I explain to the crew where our barges are in the fleet moorings and my plan on how we/I will get them out to build the tow. Seems simple, right?

But every once in a while, a new crew member will suggest a “better” way of doing things.

I’ve done it multiple times before, but it’s hot and I keep getting feedback from one of the hands about how if we do it his way it would take “way less time.”

I know better and shut them down, and we do it my way. It takes about 90 minutes and away we go.

This time, the crew didn’t take it well and reported him to HR, who gave him a longwinded spiel.

Heard some grumbling from the crew about being a hard *** and not being open to new and better ideas. Heard it before and forgot about it.

Two weeks later, after returning to work, I get called into HR (well, what we had for HR at the time) about how I was inflexible and not open to new and “better” ways of doing things.

I was told I should listen to the crew and perhaps I could learn some “new and improved” ways to towboat.

So the captain decides to do just that.

The day arrives. Get orders, same three barges to put together for a refinery run, same deck crew, so let’s try some HR advice on building tow.

Ask the crew, “How you guys want to do this?” Tell them where the barges are and ask which one should we clear up first and where do you want to build the tow?

Ninety minutes in, we have one barge cleared and temps are in the high 90s.

The crew is starting to crack, but the captain still rolls with it.

Quiet hand says on the radio, “It didn’t take this long last week.”

I said someone went to the office and said I was taking too long and would not listen to better ideas. Do you guys have any more?

Let’s take 10 for a water break and get back to finishing.

Finally, the crew is forced to admit the inevitable.

After the break, the crew came up and admitted their way was taking longer and asked if we could just get it over with and “do it your way.”

I asked just to be sure I did not do anything to disrupt your plan or make it harder? I don’t want to be called into the office again next week for not giving you guys a chance.

Took another 60 minutes to finish and get underway.

Told the crew to cool off and we will have a meeting about what happened.

Soon, they all figured out a much better approach for feedback.

I explained if they wanted, before every job we could have a little informal meeting to discuss what we/I was planning and I could accept their input before we started.

They thought that was a great idea, except that was a form of work and the meetings slowly went away.

A few years after this incident, one of the alphabet agencies that regulate and tell us how to do our jobs made those meetings mandatory, and they had to have paper forms filled out in duplicate.

Bureaucracy really tends to slow things down.

What did Reddit think?

Sometimes you have to work smarter, not harder.

Loving your job really is a gift.

Some bosses seem to value control over competence.

This boss welcomes new ideas, but only if they make sense.

HR wanted flexibility, so the captain gave them a live demo on why he’s the best at what he does.

On the river, experience outweighs novelty.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.