Bradysitting

The Brady Bunch was not the first show to feature a blended family, nor did it do much to point up some of the very real conflicts that arise when you try to smush two households together.

(The original version of Yours, Mine and Ours did much better justice to this issue -- a movie that yielded its own undeserved and far inferior remake.)

The Bradys were, in fact, ripe for parody, a demand met in 1995 with a movie that pointed up the hokier points of the show.

Still, with six kids and three adults, even the most saccharine show was going to stumble over an episode that meets our criteria for demonstrating how a group unit with superiors and subordinates should operate. Early in the second season, the kids point out that they're plenty old and plenty capable to babysit themselves. Here, then, is a template for how to negotiate when you're looking for more responsibility. (Watch to 5:42)

Carol Brady goes on to demonstrate excellent managerial acumen by making sure the whole team is on the same page, allowing the group to air grievances and concerns, settling the matter of who is in charge, and making her decision clear in no uncertain terms. Note that she doesn't just brush off the issues: She gives due consideration to the frivolous claims; she takes note of the more serious problems rather than dump them in the laps of her new managers -- and she knows the difference between the two.  (Watch to 7:17)

Of course, then the parental units make a rookie mistake. They don't let the managers manage. They let their doubts get the better of them and decide to check up on the situation.  In office parlance, this is usually referred to as "micro-managing." Trust me, that term is never used in a positive context. (Watch to the end.)

... And then the cops came.  Ultimately, of course, all ends well. The kids did what they were taught, the parents are moderately embarrassed and learn a lesson, the kids roll their eyes, cue the Brady theme.  If your managerial snafus can end with a laugh track, you're doing something right. 

Of course, if your office more closely mirrors real life, you'd come home to find the ones left in charge have turned into Little Hitlers and nobody is speaking to anyone else.  There's a different lesson in there -- one the new managers will learn the hard way. If you're a good supervisor, you'll still let the managers manage and figure out their own way to fix it.