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Today’s Question is:  Is it better to be hands off or a micromanager?

Today’s Answer is submitted by:  Andrew Winig of Imrov Andy. Andy shares his cutting edge teamwork techniques through keynote speeches, interactive training sessions, and individual leadership coaching. Contact him at http://www.improvandy.com or at (781) 646-9543.

Neither. In fact, while these sound like two opposite styles, they actually refer to a single style: The Hands Off Micromanager.

 

Here’s how it works:
 
You manage hands off.
 
An employee disappoints you.
 
You micromanage that employee.
 
The employee rebels (bad) or quits (worse).
 
You manage hands off.
 
An employee disappoints you…
 
How can you prevent this ping pong style of management?
How can you develop trust with your employees?
How can you hold employees accountable even when you are not watching them every second of every day?
 
Use the Four Step Delegation Process to become an empowering manager.
 
A manager who describes the result, then let’s your employees choose the best path to get there.
 
A manager who develops trust and communication so that work gets done even when you are not there.
 
Here is a quick overview of the four steps:
1. Demonstrate: Show the employee how it’s done.
2. Work Together: Complete the task together.
3. Switch Roles:  The employee becomes the boss
4. Letting Go…Now the employee can do the work.
 
I recently went through the third step in one of my businesses. I let my employee take the lead on client sites for about three months. I did what he told me to do. Now I’ve experienced him running the sites, and I trust him to do it the right way, even when I am not there.
 
My employee then used this approach to train his subordinate, with the same result. He can trust that the work is getting done correctly, even when he is not there. Sometimes I still stop by unannounced, mainly to congratulate them on the excellent work they are doing.

Andrew Winig empowers you to delegate so that work gets done even when you are not there. He shares his cutting edge teamwork techniques through keynote speeches, interactive training sessions, and individual leadership coaching. Contact him at http://www.improvandy.com or at (781) 646-9543