Control vs. trust

Or a longer title: how involved in the work of your employees should you be as a manager - inspiration vs. control, good management vs. micromanagement… what to do with proverb “Trust, but verify”

Micromanagement
Micromanagement is the theme that we hear and read very often about. The reason is simple: everyday one manager falls into its trap. Everyday someone starts thinking that control is better than trust and falls into the pitfall of micromanagement.

We all know micromanagement is the worst that can happen to both young as well as experienced manager. We all sometimes have the urge to “dive deeper”. Sometimes maybe even for the sake of the fact that we enjoy being “hands on” and sometimes just to “show them how it’s done”.

It is ok from time to time to “grab the shovel” and go work with your teammates… that is not considered micromanagement and it is not hurting neither relationship nor motivation of your subordinates. But if that becomes too often and you take upon a habit of telling everyone “how it’s done” … ooopps you have just landed in the “minefield” called “micromanagement”… and that “minefield” is as deadly as the minefield between Koreas.

However, there is a certain point in a manager – employee relationship when manager has to be involved deeper and more frequent in the actual work that is being done. I will point out to some situations and argue the reasons.

Mentoring
One of such situation is during the period of introduction of a new employee into his or her role and responsibilities. It is not good to tell to a newcomer “here, go do that” and leave them to themselves very early in the job introduction process. You have to spend some time with your new subordinate to introduce them to their work, their colleagues, to the company etc. Some companies have detailed and streamlined work introduction process, but nevertheless you have to be involved. You cannot rely only on the “corporate process” to make sure your new employee has everything in line for him/her and that they are getting a good head start. This is the point when you have to be involved. This is not considered to be micromanagement, but simply a good mentoring.

Lack of resources
If you have a small team (lack of resources) and a very short deadline, this may (and may not be) the time when you have to get involved on a more “hands on level”. This is actually a tricky one, because as a manager you should have provided adequate resources prior to the actual engagement. Or you should have not accepted the deadline if you knew (and you should have known) that you are lacking resources. But of course, the exception can always happen. You cannot allow yourself to “leave early” or “leave on time” if you push your team to pull in some overtime. You should stick with them and if you can, land them a hand (at least with something mundane) or somehow show them your support and care. This is the time when you need to be involved.

Boosting morale
Similarly like giving a hand when the resources are lacking, sometimes you have to “jump into the battle” in order to boost a morale and show your team that you are with them no matter. Show them that their work is important and valued and that you also are not afraid of doing it when needed.

In 52 BC in the Battle of Alesia, between Gauls and Romans great Roman leader Julius Caesar took sword and ran into first row of a battle when the lines were in danger of collapsing. Seeing him and seeing that he is “one of them” as he is not afraid to do their work, soldiers started fighting more vigorously and he saved the day in that manner. Although his actual fighting might have not contributed much on a physical level, it gave tremendous boost to the morale of soldiers and hence saved the day. Situations like crisis are something where you may need to be involved more deeply.

Trust but verify
Finally, I would like to argue why control is useless if you do not have trust of your teammates and how much is one worth vs. the other.

This short proverb, “Trust, but verify” is attributed to US President Roland Reagan. He used it in his relationship with Soviet Union during the Cold War era. He trusted Soviets… but he really didn’t, is basically what he was saying by this proverb.

This is sometimes the situation you can find yourself in: when you need to trust your employees, but you feel the need and the urge to “verify”. For example, you need to “turn in” some work done by your employees and the question is should you double check it and how should you do it?

We all like for someone to double check our work – that’s for sure. It is a good way to assure that we are not wrong, to make sure another “set of eyes” have looked into it and brought some additional value or simply gave it a fresh view and possibly noticed something we were not able to notice.

But as a boss, you are in a bit different situation. If you insist to double check the work of your employees and especially if you do it in a matter that may appear as “I do not trust you” or even worse “I do not believe you can do it”. You have just stared a bad management practice that can seriously undermine your relationship towards you employees and results in the future less and less quality work (due to lack of motivation, trust etc.).

It still may be good to verify the work of your subordinates, but try to make it like it is a way of coaching, mentoring, helping them. Because if you get the response “what!? he/she did not trust me on this one!?” than you have ruined much more than just letting that piece of work get slip by.

In my opinion it is better to “take a bullet” for your employee (in terms of your supervisors giving you back your work – done by your team – because it had a bug) than lose the trust. Your bosses should understand that mistakes can happen and that your people err as much as anyone else. More importantly, you will not be able to physically check all of the work done by your team – so if you do not have firm trust established and if your team is not dedicated to their maximum, there is no way you will reduce the amount of error by physically checking every piece of work they turn in.

So as our employees are not to be treated the way Reagan treated Soviets, we can change the saying to: “Trust, but mentor and coach” your team.