Pay attention to details without micromanaging

Oh, the life of a manager. You need to give your team space, but you have to make sure they are delivering the project on time and under budget, which means you should pay close attention to details. But what if being detail-oriented negatively affects your management style?



For example, say you make it a habit to immerse yourself in overseeing a project, and you resist delegating to others, because you want to control the fine points of a project.



Hate to break it to you, but that is micromanaging, and those kinds of managers are not the ones that engage their team. Micromanagers are overly involved in the details of projects and are too controlling of those who should be attending to the details. Think about it, if the boss is going to control every detail, why should the employees even bother with it?



In addition, paying too close attention to certain details can cause unnecessary second-guessing, along with potential redundant work.



On the flip side, if you’re scared of becoming a micromanager, and take a ‘hands-of’ approach to your team, you might get blindsided by missed deadlines, and be perceived as being too distant from the details.



This is where you need to understand the fine line between monitoring the details and telling people how to do each task.



Efficient managers monitor performance without being too controlling of the details of how the work is accomplished. Learn how to balance the control of details with worker expertise, clarity of work goals, and frequent performance-based feedback.



Here are some tips:

When you establish yearly goals with your employees, ask them the level of involvement they want from you. Ask what you can do to be most helpful. Then follow through with their request whenever possible.

When determining the amount of latitude to give to an employee, consider his or her experience and motivation. For example, give more latitude to a person who is highly skilled and motivated in a particular area. Conversely, individuals learning a new skill will likely benefit from closer guidance.

Let your staff go forward with their ideas unless you have a major problem with their plans. Keep in mind that learning from mistakes is one of the most effective and common ways for people to develop.

Learn the difference between holding people accountable and micromanaging. Focus on results, not on whether they are achieved in exactly the same way you would achieve them.

Don’t micromanage, even new people. Instead, train people, break work down into manageable steps that they can handle successfully, and establish checkpoints.

Now it’s your turn. How do you balance the fine line between paying attention to details and micromanaging?

Why smart leaders make bad decisions

Good judgment will produce good decision making. Sounds fairly simple, right?

So, how come smart leaders make bad decisions?

All of us are required to make decisions every day - some decisions are just small and harmless, others are more important, and could change the direction of someone’s life.

Leaders, in particular, are called on to make intelligent decisions in spite of the complexity of some situations. Their direct reports look to them to make the decisions and if the leader makes a bad choice, the credibility of that leader could be jeopardized.

However, the reasoning behind how and why people make bad decisions can actually get a bit complex.

There’s even a specialty dedicated to this phenomenon called decision neuroscience, which investigates the principles of brain organization that underline executive control, reasoning, and decision making.

What research has told us is one reason leaders may make bad decisions is because they are struggling to achieve balance between the overall objectives and operational realities. They may be too abstract in their thinking that they ignore or miss the details of operations. Or they could be stuck in the present and not seeing the overall situation. In addition, they may over-analyze, or impulsively under-analyze, complex decisions because of a low tolerance for ambiguity.

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, flawed decisions start with errors of judgment, which cycles back to the idea that sound judgment can produce good decisions.

There are two distinct skill sets that can help lead to better decisions – speed and decisiveness. While these are two distinct skill sets, to be effective you must have both. Sometimes a lack of speed and decisiveness can be interpreted as poor analytical and judgment skills.

As a leader you must learn to stay focused on the big picture and not get bogged down or distracted by irrelevant details. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

Determine the criteria 

A hallmark of sound decision making is clear criteria for making the decision. Before making a decision, determine the criteria for evaluating the options. The criteria should be drawn from the organization's goals or objectives.

For example, the following criteria are common: minimal impact to current operations, helping to achieve important business priorities, consistent with corporate values, logically sound, can be implemented within the constraints, acceptable to those involved, considers all pros, cons, and risks.

Look at all angles

Consider alternative solutions instead of going with the first option that presents itself. There may be more alternatives available to you than you imagine. Try to imagine and fully analyze three alternative solutions before you make a final decision.

Mistakes happen

In ambiguous situations in which you are not sure of what to do and are afraid of making a mistake, realize that it's very likely that no one else knows what to do either. Mistakes happen; they are a fact of life. The best tactic when confronted with a mistake is to say, "What can I learn from this?"

Remember the key is to communicate your reasoning processes clearly and link them operationally to what you are trying to achieve. In other words, try to zero in on what is important, and then take action.