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Do Centered Leaders Ever Need to Micromanage?

It's almost a curse word in the lexicon of leadership: micromanage. Haven't we all felt resentment at being overly managed? Haven't we all bristled at the manager who seems to want to control every aspect of our jobs, maybe even our very lives?

And so as leaders we work hard to develop other approaches. We build skills that create participative, transforming leadership. We seek to motivate thru influence rather than power, because in the end, as John Maxwell said, "leadership is influence."

But what if your job goes beyond leadership? What if the core of your job is to supervise?

It's one of those things that makes front line supervision one of the toughest jobs in any organization. We are called to lead, to motivate, to inspire AND to achieve ever improving results. And, sometimes we must supervise a team member who simply does not get it.

It's not because people are bad or have bad intentions. Most of the time, if someone is not meeting our expectations, they may simply not know what those expectations are. Or, they may not have the knowledge or training to achieve those expectations. But sometimes they lack the desire.

Whatever the case, some people need more attention than others. To treat every person like a superstar who is self-motivation and fully equipped to do the job does a disservice to them and to your team. New hires, struggling performers, people who are in the wrong job for their strengths, and people who do not fully understand the expectations need more attention.

It doesn't make them any less valuable or respected -- they just need a little hand-holding now and then.
No one likes to be micromanaged but at various vital times everyone needs it.

The truly tough part as a leader is balancing the patience and insistence we need to pull that off. It's in paying more attention without creating a co-dependency. It's holding someone accountable without crushing them under unrealistic expectations.

And as front line leaders who are pushing for high performance results, sometimes what is meant as persistence from us can feel like insistence or impatience to others. Push on. The ultimate respect for someone is to expect that they will do the job they are hired to do -- with excellence, constant improvement, and the will to achieve their goals.

And if lack of willingness or an inappropriate job fit eventually do prove to be the problem, sometimes the kindest thing that a leader can do is to help them find their way someplace else.

No one ever said it was easy to be a high performance leader.

Who on your team requires extra attention? Are you making sure that they are getting it?

-- Douglas Brent Smith






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