Leaders must empower their teams, not micromanage!

A significant number of leaders especially at senior levels appear to be strapped for time and are constantly playing ‘catch-up’. They spend their time darting between meetings, notifications, and open browser tabs. They tend to be less visible and are rarely available when their team members need them. Work-life balance is not their cup of tea. The million-dollar question is are they busy or have they allowed themselves to be sucked into the vortex of busyness?

During my career, I have been fortunate to work with brilliant leaders who were well-organised, approachable and appeared to have abundant time. What is more, is that they had made work-life balance a fine art. What differentiated them from the time-strapped leaders?

• They ensured that new hires in their team especially their direct reports were onboarded well and were set up for success. The onboarding was customised based on the new hire’s experience, talents and limitations.
• They conveyed expectations to their team members, as and when required, to ensure alignment and took pains to understand their challenges and how they can impact performance.
• They were outstanding at delegating tasks and empowering their team members. This is the key differentiator. They believed that if any of their team members could do a task that was being done by them, it should be delegated.
• They made time to coach and mentor their team members.
• They maintained an open door but also budgeted time for ‘management by walking around’ (MBWA).
• They encouraged a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. In this context, team members were given a licence to push boundaries with the freedom to fail.
• They took responsibility for any failures of their team members but gave credit for their achievements.

Leaders who are too busy are either micromanagers or are not comfortable empowering their teams. This adversely affects engagement and is detrimental to both individual and team performance. The growth of the team also gets stunted. Such leaders must be made aware of their limitations and coached to overcome them.