“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually miss the daily calls.”
I knew things hadn’t been going well at work for my friend Courtney, and yet still, I was surprised by what she said. To say she had been micromanaged at her previous job was an understatement. The daily calls — during which she and her team had to run down the list of everyone they had contacted that day — may have been annoying, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Her manager regularly read through staff emails, accompanied veteran salespeople to meetings to make sure they were “conveying the right message,” and used a program that enabled him to spy on their desktops.
Micro-managing at its worst.
Fast forward to her current job, where the environment is about as different as it could possibly be. When she started with the company, she enjoyed working independently; she had her clients and her quota, and did whatever it took to meet those numbers. It was exactly the type of arrangement she had coveted. But what had first seemed like a great situation started to sour when her manager became increasingly detached. It got to the point where she felt like she was on an island with no ships in sight.
“So you don’t have daily calls?” I asked.
“Daily?! We don’t have even weekly calls. There’s nothing. No quick meetings, no check-ins, nothing. It’s so strange.”
“How does your manager know how everyone’s doing? How does he take the pulse of the staff?”
“Exactly,” she said. Because if he did check in a little more, he’d realize that one of his top salespeople is quickly becoming disengaged, and is starting to speculate as to why the boss is always absent. Is he looking for another job? Is the company in trouble? Is her in job in trouble?
And that’s the problem. When your staff — especially the top performers — aren’t hearing from you, they start to draw their own conclusions as to the reason. Granted, there are times when a leader is immersed in a major project or deal, or is going through a personal crisis, and can’t check in as often. This is completely understandable, as long as the staff is kept in the loop — and not in the dark.
And there’s the rub. There should be a happy medium between being stifled and being ignored.
It’s like the story of Goldilocks, which my kids have taken quite a liking to. The precocious little break-in artist didn’t want the porridge to be too hot or too cold; she wanted it just right, and she refused to settle for anything less.
In a high-pressure working environment, people want a leader who trusts them to do their jobs and doesn’t question how they do it. But at the same time, they want someone who is engaged enough to know how they do it and understand what their biggest challenges are. People want a leader who is right there with them, fighting the good fight.
They want an environment that’s just right.
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