Helicopter management is risky business!
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do, we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do” – Steve Jobs
Everyday I’m interviewing smart people. At mme we focus a lot on Job, Boss and Culture, we want to understand every detail that makes for the right match. I spend a lot of time asking about workplace environments and bosses that my job seekers have loved but I’m equally interested in the feedback about the not so good experiences and their reasons for leaving. And there’s a resounding response – The number one dislike in this conversation, without any question is …
‘Micromanagement’ or the phrase I like to say helicopter management!
This management style is high-risk and even more so within this employee driven/candidate short market. In my experience, micromanagers are usually unaware that their actions are being likened, somewhat to a helicopter hovering. Whilst having the best intentions for the outcome of the role and the company, this behaviour largely impacts the team’s morale and performance. It is often perceived as a lack of trust, generating frustration, suppressing creativity, devaluing the employee, and stripping them of confidence and at its worst it leads to a resignation.
So, what are the tell tale signs of a helicopter manager?
- Daily monitoring of employee’s work, frequent updates
- Discouraging independent thought or different ways to work
- Acting as a perfectionist by being fixated on doing things in a certain way
- Rarely satisfied with deliverables – the ‘what you should have done” conversation
- Preference to be cc’d on every email
- You become irritated when decisions are made independently of you
- Constant instruction of how to do something, this stifles creativity and shows a lack of trust in your people
- Acting as a bottleneck for decision making in the team. Every small thing requires your approval
- Expect overly-detailed reports on a regular basis
- Focus on unimportant details
- Insistence that everything is documented
- Not allowing employees to attend meetings on your behalf
Have I got you thinking? Are you the “helicopter of the office” and you didn’t realise?
Organisations spend time and effort to hire smart, talented, and self-motivated individuals with passion and commitment towards the success of the organisation. Keen to contribute, these people want to challenge, devise creative solutions and be a part of the success story. So, for a manager striking the right balance between oversight and autonomy, requesting clarity and accountability for decisions and affording trust is the goal.
The difference between letting your employee’s soar or plummet solely lies in the management style.
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