Is Micro-Leadership the Answer to Micro-Management?

“I don’t want to come across as a Micro-Manager, but…”

I hear that opening (or something like it) at least once or twice a month from clients. I also heard it in my corporate days from my management team (I even said it to myself a few times!).
 
Management has gone from something of admiration (the writings of Peter Drucker illustrate that view well) to something that took second place to Leadership (a very debatable point, but too much to get into for the purposes of today). And that’s when we started talking about the Micro-Manager, the most noxious form of Manager (vs. Leader). Ever had the Micro-Manager guilt bomb dropped on you by someone?
 
Is being a Micro-Manager Truly a "Bad" Thing?

Before I go any further, let me be clear. Exclusive Micro-Management of your team IS a real problem. But there are times when just providing close supervision of tasks being performed, with your team accomplishing them, IS the right approach. Sometimes, some things MUST be done right and on time.

Back to my clients. I usually talk with them at this point about Situational Leadership, and when close supervision makes sense (you can do an online search for more details). Here’s how it applies: Think of new employees, or new skills, or new tasks, or an existing employee to a new position in the company, or new policy procedures and protocols. I think you get the idea. New DEMANDS a level of closer supervision for a period of time.
 
There is a lot of training involved when a new hire joins a company AND must learn new job duties. Many people understand close supervision is going to be required. Often, new employees are motivated and appreciate an extended hand to help.
 
But we often discount that newness factor when someone comes to us with task experience, or when they have been with the company and move into a higher position with unknown duties to perform. In fact, we might even forget about them (Gerber talked about that as abdication in his book, The E-Myth Revisited). At the very least, our company’s formal and informal cultures, ways of doing business, formal and informal structures, are NEW to them compared to their prior positions in other companies (how quickly do things Go South when someone doesn’t “Get” the culture quickly enough?).

So, some Micro-Management is OK, Abdication isn't OK, Situational Leadership can help... How the heck does this work for me?
 
What’s the solution? The Micro-Management issue can arise when people are new to the task, or the company, or the position. The challenge, and opportunity, is this: one that is constantly moving along a continuum of management focus (on results) and leadership application (support of people).
 
Recognize that you are operating on a continuum. As task competence, or company, or position experience develop, your approach must shift from strong task focus to more person and individual focus — Leadership and Emotional Intelligence. And as is true of all continua, one may move back and forth, up and down, before some stability is attained.
 
It is especially critical in a small business, because everything is visible to you as the owner, to your team, and usually to your customers/clients. To create the right mindset, I’ve started saying to people that necessary Micro-Management must be balanced by appropriate Micro-Leadership. That is, BE appropriate for the moment, in the moment.

As you’ve no doubt gathered, I’m always happy to talk about Leadership and Management. Let me know if you would like to continue this conversation!