ISSUE No. 16
Sometimes the label is accurate. Sometimes the label keeps us from looking at our own ownership.
I was in a meeting this past week when the word micromanagement came up.
I don't remember exactly what was said next, but I remember having this thought:
When did management become micromanagement?
We've gotten pretty good at labeling things. Sometimes the label is useful. It gives language to something that's actually happening. But labels can also make things a little too easy.
At work, micromanagement is one of those labels.
A leader follows up on something we said we'd do. Micromanagement. Someone asks why a commitment is off track. They don't trust us. A manager wants to see progress before the deadline. They're controlling.
Sometimes that's exactly what's happening.
But sometimes I wonder if the label does something else for us. It moves the attention away from what I said I would do and puts it on the person asking me about it.
If we agree that something will be done in two weeks, I don't think good management means we shake hands and don't speak about it again until day fourteen. Give most of us two weeks and somehow the final 48 hours become pretty important.
A couple of mile markers along the way aren't necessarily micromanagement. Asking how something is progressing isn't a lack of trust. Following up on a commitment isn't controlling.
Sometimes that's just management.
And maybe we've become a little hypersensitive to accountability because accountability can be uncomfortable. Someone asking about the thing I said I'd do forces me to look at the thing I said I'd do.
Calling them a micromanager gives me somewhere else to look.
Of course, there is another side to this.
Leaders can earn the label.
If I tell you that you own something but then control every decision you make, I'm not really giving you ownership. If I ask you to lead something but keep changing it until it looks exactly like I would have done it, I'm getting in the way.
And if I eventually get impatient and say, “Just give it to me,” now something else has happened.
The Hero showed up.
I've talked about the Hero quite a bit with leaders because it's an easy trap to miss. The Hero gets things done. Something gets off track, I know how to fix it, and I can probably get there faster. So I step in.
The work gets done, but the person who owned it may have lost something in the process. They needed the rep. They needed to make the decision. Maybe they even needed to get part of it wrong and figure out how to correct it.
Sometimes the Hero gets the job done and takes away someone else's chance to shine.
I've also been in leadership long enough to know you can't turn every problem into a coaching session. Sometimes people need an answer. Sometimes they need more support. And sometimes you just need to make the call.
There have been seasons in my career when I've had to get much closer to the work because the situation required it.
That's leadership too.
The danger is when temporary control becomes our permanent way of leading.
There's another side of this that may be just as dangerous. We can become so worried about being called a micromanager that we stop managing.
We don't check in. We get vague about expectations. We call it empowerment and give people plenty of room.
Then the deadline arrives and the work isn't where it needs to be.
So we jump in and save it. Funny how quickly avoiding micromanagement can create the Hero. Maybe that's why I'm less interested in the label and more interested in one question:
Who owns the work?
If I own it, I should be able to tell you where it stands.
If you own it, I should make the expectation clear, agree on what done looks like, stay close enough to support you, and give you enough room to actually own it.
That's management.
If I start controlling every move, I've gone too far. And if somehow I end up doing the work myself, I've gone too far.
Maybe we don't need another label. Maybe we just need a little more honesty about ownership.
THIS WEEK'S FIELD TOOL
Think about one commitment that's in motion right now.
If you're leading it, ask yourself: Am I giving this person enough clarity and support to own the work, or am I slowly taking it back?
If you're the one being led, ask yourself: Am I actually being micromanaged, or am I uncomfortable because someone is holding me to what I said I would do?
Both questions require a little honesty.
And that's probably a better place to start than the label.
Jason