Skill Number 2: Connected Leaders Do Not Micromanage

In last week’s article, I started to write about the 8 leadership skills that Charles Duhigg mentions in Smarter Faster Better. For your quick reference, I have listed them again.

They are:

1. Be a Good Coach
2. Does Not Micromanage
3. Cares about the Individual
4. Productive and Results Driven
5. Listens and Shares
6. Helps with Career Development
7. Clear Vision & Strategy
8. Technically Competent

Last week we talked about being a good coach. So, let’s move onto the next topic. Great leaders do not micromanage.

Sounds simple right? Just don’t do it. Time to move on. Except… that doesn’t quite work. The trouble with defining something in the negative is that it doesn’t quite give us clarity on what we are actually supposed to be doing. The absence of illness is not the same as health. So, this leaves with the question, if we are not supposed to micro-manage, what are we supposed to do? What is better?

To answer that question, I think we first have to ask ourselves…

Why do Some Leaders Micromanage?

According to Mariam-Webster Dictionary Micromanage means:

Micromanage: transitive verb to manage especially with excessive control or attention to details

Excessive control or attention to details. In my own experience, micromanagement happens when the manager does not trust the person doing the work and attempts to exert their force of will through the person. They have given the work to someone else, but openly believes only they can do it right. They hold on tightly to information, vision, and become myopically focused on details that only seem to reinforce their belief that they are the person best suited to do the work.

Many, many entrepreneurs are micro-managers. They built their company, they had to do it all, and now they can’t let go.

Micromanagement in my experience is the twin burden of not being able to let go of the work and believing that you can treat people like machines who can be controlled. If you have never been micromanaged, congratulations — you probably have never worked for a new manager, or perhaps you have never worked directly for anyone and are yourself an entrepreneur. If that is the case, then you may need to look in the mirror. If no one has shown you how not to micromanage, you could be the one doling out the frustration and misery. I know from personal experience looking yourself in the mirror and realizing you’re the problem is no fun.

It is not only entrepreneurs, however, who suffer from micromanagement. New managers also frequently find themselves giving in to the siren song of micromanagement. Most people are promoted into a position of management because they demonstrated leadership as an individual contributor. It was their capacity to do tremendous, respected work. This what new managers share in common with entrepreneurs. They both can get a lot of work done in a short amount of time and do it well.

We Lean On Our Strengths

The reason so many people, who could never tolerate being micromanaged, and in fact may have started their own company to get away from it, never the less find themselves micromanaging is that managing others is hard. What’s more, it was all that delightful productivity that made them successful. It is only natural in a stressful situation to lean on your strengths, your old stand buys to power you through this situation as well. And that’s the trouble.

As Marshall Goldsmith Famously said:

What got you here, won’t get you there.

or as I like to (half) joke:

Life is like a video game. Your reward for solving hard problems is; you get higher order problems to solve.

It doesn’t get easier. It gets harder.

In short, most well intentioned, competent, capable people fall into the trap of micromanagement because they are so competent. They know how to do the work, and they can see exactly how it should be done, so they try to manage the methods of doing the work. And here in lies the problem. They are still trying to do the work, either because they don’t know another way, or because they are afraid, or both.

How to Not Micromanage

If we are not going to micromanage, then we need to know what we are supposed to aim for. Here are the best practices I can share with you from my career as a manager, and executive.

First, start with a clear understanding of what your job is. Many leadership positions are now expected to make meaningful contributions and manage. In my opinion this is… shall we say, “sub-optimal”, however, if that is the case then you will need to set up very clear boundaries between your contributing self, and your managing self.

Second, when you are the manager, your job as manager is not to do the work but to make sure the team does the work.

Third, rule two means you manage OUTCOMES, not METHODS.

The single biggest mistake most new managers make is that they can’t imagine any other way of doing the work than the way they did it. Therefore, they end up trying to force the other person to work the way they worked. If you truly have a novel process — then what you are talking about is training. Training is not managing.

I love the way David Allen the creator of GTD expresses it:

Simple, clear purposes and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior

Manage the People

David Allen called it, “clear purpose and principles.” The way I used to say it was, “I don’t care how you get it done, as long as it is ethical and sustainable, have at it.” But I would then quickly add, “If you need guidance or help, let me know.” This is where the four-phase development ladder comes in. If a manager is also a good coach, then the real job is to coach up the employee so they can own their own methods. This is the mentorship model. If you are not feeling confident in the person’s ability to do the job, it is totally okay to have meetings in the format, “tell me about your approach.” And then together to set in check-ins. The idea is that together, you develop the plan. But you do this with the purpose of cultivating independence and self-direction in the other person, not dependence upon you.

Two other rules, I will repeat often make this process easier.

First, I have yet to find any situation improved by getting upset. (I have a robust sample set)

Second, I have yet to find a situation made worse by treating people with respect (I wish this sample size was of similar scale as the first rule, but sadly this rule came later in my career)

I bring these up because I want to share with you a vision for connected leadership that reinforces these ideas. Connected leadership is calm, centered, and generative.

A Vision for Leadership

Instead of solely focusing on the work the team is doing, if you turn part of your focus onto the environment the team is working in, you can begin to see the responsibility of the manager is to create a calm, centered, grounded environment. The vast majority of us now work in a service or knowledge economy. The real job of the manager, the thing that replaces micromanagement is a work environment where people can thrive.

Conclusion

When we look at the second skill of great managers, we see a simple admonishment. Don’t micromanage your people. However, without a clear understanding of what leads to micromanagement, and what should replace it, we can easily fall into the trap of micromanaging as a byproduct of relying on old skills.

The thing that replaces micromanagement is leadership that creates a calm, stable environment where employees are mentored to do their best work. As Ray Dalio wrote in Principles:

We want to do meaningful work with good friends

When you focus on creating a stable, generative environment where employees can prosper, this will quickly lead you to the next management skill. Great Mangers care about their people.

We’ll take a look at that next week.

References

1. Duhigg, C. (2016). Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity (Reprint edition). Random House.
2. Goldsmith, M., & Reiter, M. (2007). What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful (Revised ed. edition). Hachette Books.
3. Goldsmith, M., & Reiter, M. (2007). What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful (Revised ed. edition). Hachette Books.
4. Dalio, R. (2017). Principles: Life and Work (Illustrated edition). Simon & Schuster.