John Eades* says leaders in charge of remote teams must find a balance between micromanaging and being too hands-off.
Remote work has put managers in a precarious position.
The natural distance between leaders and their people has many managers defaulting to a style that isn’t in line with what the best do.
I hear this all the time: “I hire the best people and let them do their work.”
While this makes sense on the surface, I don’t know one high performer who doesn’t leverage a coach to help them perform.
Let’s use athletes as an example. The best golfers in the world have instructors to help them hone their craft.
The best basketball players in the world have head coaches that create systems for them to play at their best.
Talented professionals that are high-performers are no different.
They need a leader to help create a positive culture and to challenge them to higher performance levels.
For the sake of clarity, let’s get clear on what it means to be a micromanager.
Webster defines it as: “manage [ment] especially with excessive control or attention on details”.
It is common for micromanagers to have narcissistic or perfectionist tendencies which can influence how they delegate work to their team.
These managers don’t believe the work can be done properly by anyone but themselves.
Micromanagers typically take credit for a team’s great results but are just as ready to pass the blame for negative results.
Being a micromanager is not what the best leaders do; but, at least they are involved (albeit too frequently and in the wrong way).
If you are ready to be involved in the right ways as a manager here are a few ideas.
Define a Vision that Creates Excitement.
Author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek famously said: “Great leaders must have two things.
“A vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate that vision clearly.”
Even if you don’t see yourself as a visionary leader, giving your team a picture of a world that doesn’t exist today is a worthwhile aspiration.
Involve them in short-term measurable goals.
After interviewing hundreds of the best leaders on the planet, it is clear that great leaders understand two simple things about goal-setting.
First, they know how important goals are; the true meaning of the word team means coming together as a group to achieve a common goal.
Second, they set goals that their team cares about achieving.
Research has revealed that setting challenging and specific goals further enhance employee engagement in attaining those goals.
Google uses Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to help managers and their teams perform better.
Many companies have been working hard to provide leaders with the tools to be successful in setting short-term measurable goals for remote work.
I have been using Peoplebox.ai and couldn’t be more impressed with aligning my team to short-term measurable goals.
If you don’t have a tool, now is the time, especially if you lead a remote team.
Coach like You’re a Carriage.
One of the ways a leader positively involves and separates themselves as a manager is by coaching their people.
A coach is someone who trains and instructs.
The word coach comes from ‘carriage’, which means to take someone from where they are today to where they want to go.
It is impossible to be an effective carriage when you are completely hands-off.
Instead, it requires you to be in tune with the effort, performance and mindset of each team member, and look for ways to help them improve.
Sometimes this means knowing when to be quiet; other times it means asking thought-provoking questions.
Here are a few of my favourite coaching questions to add to your arsenal.
Could you walk me through your thought process?
What do you think we should do to create the best result for everyone?
What other approaches might you take next time?
Connect Before you Correct.
If you don’t know about the importance of love and discipline in your leadership style, you might be making a huge mistake.
It’s essential to understand what love and discipline are in the context of leadership.
Love is to contribute to someone’s long-term success and wellbeing (to will the good of another).
Discipline is to promote standards in order for an individual to choose to be at their best.
In leadership, one is more important than the other. The reason is simple, because you have to connect before you correct.
Hiring the right people to help run your organisation is always going to be important.
However, don’t let your confidence in the skills of your team cause you to fall into the trap of being absent as their leader.
Your involvement is necessary for the success of the team and the business; it is finding the balance in that involvement which will take both to new heights.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft a leadership development company. He is also the host of the Follow My Lead podcast. He can be contacted at johneades.com.
This article first appeared on John’s LearnLoft blog.
