Tactic 1/90: Task Relevant Maturity

I'm a big believer in the CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, and his book High Output Management.

Task Relevant Maturity comes directly from the book, where Grove describes the concept as “How often you monitor [your subordinate] should not be based on what you believe your subordinate can do in general, but on his experience with a specific task and his prior performance with it – his task relevant maturity…as the subordinate’s work improves over time, you should respond with a corresponding reduction in the intensity of the monitoring.”

The more your team has done the task competently, the more you should back off. If they don't know what they're doing at a specific task, even if they're senior, you should help them with that task.

So your management style should vary widely dependent on the employee. You may be a micro-manger for some team members and delegate completely for others. This may mean you come across has having widely different management styles. That's alright, you're doing the right thing.