The Leader's Dilemma
What’s the biggest challenge that faces new managers?
Everyone has a slightly different answer to this question - but most include some version of “I’m accountable for the team’s performance, but I’m not responsible for doing the work.” Leaders typically go from being an individual contributor (doing stuff) to being a manager (facilitating the doing of stuff by others).
In other words, “It’s my fault when they make mistakes, but it’s not up to me to do the work.”
The accountability/responsibility paradox can be a recipe for micromanagement or an “It’s just quicker if I do it myself” approach to leadership. And, as we all know, nobody likes a micromanager - and no team can excel if its leader doesn’t get out of the way.
This is a systemic challenge for organizations. But there’s a lot of help out there. Here are our quick and proven ways to overcome this leader’s dilemma:
Empower your leaders: resources exist, in abundance. Since we’re all new to leadership at some point in our careers, books, articles, podcasts, and yes, coaches and trainings are widely available. We specialize in the latter and can point you to the best of the former.
Hire well. Easier said than done, but if you hire people with the right technical skills and, crucially, the soft skills we all need to excel, you make it easier to delegate, advance their careers, and more your organization forward. Behavioral interview questions are a great place to start.
Cultivate trust. Without trust, workplace relationships founder and morale and productivity suffer. Leaders and managers should be able to trust their direct reports - and vice versa. Unpack what trust at work is and where the deficits are; addressing trust is time well spent.
Coach and offer feedback. Delegation is vital, but if you don’t follow-up and offer meaningful, constructive feedback, you’re unlikely to do it again. Help your people grow and get out of their way.
Each individual, team, and company will have different needs and strengths. We partner with organizations, their leaders, and their broader teams to assess where they are, what they need, to help them get there.
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Ellie Hearne is a leadership-communications expert and founder of Pencil or Ink. She has worked with Apple, Google, Kate Spade, Marriott, Morgan Stanley, Oracle, Mastercard, Pfizer, Piaget, Spotify, Starbucks, and Twitter, among others, and has coached numerous individuals and teams.