Do you Control or do you Trust? - Management tips

During my professional experience I´ve found myself working for truly exceptional leaders, so that in wird situations which only led to frustration and leaving. But, does it need to be like that?. No way. But trusting blindly does not seem to be the right path. 

👉 We need to feel useful, valuable and able to grow within the business. 

I remember my times at IE Business School, where we improved our skills to innovate, empowering employees to grow and creating a sustainable and more profitable business. And they were right.

I recommend to pay attention to the following key points in order to get the highest performance of a team:

1. Set Clear Expectations 

As employees begin to prove the execution and quality of their work, less micro-management is necessary. Checking in on work, setting clear expectations and clear leadership of our values is essential to ensure the very best outcomes. 

2. Try Systemic Leadership 

Leaders who adapt are in a better position. Systemic leadership is about creating an environment that supports creativity, innovation and space for the team to self-organize in rapidly changing environments. The outcome is greater employee engagement and increased performance. 

3. Rethink Delegation 

Trust is a currency built over time. When leaders invest (extend) trust, it grows. The best way to do this is through delegation, but not in the traditional sense of the word. Instead of delegating tasks (i.e. dumping busy work on someone and watching over their shoulder), delegate opportunity. Trust people with key projects, and support them as needed. This is how I see leaders develop others. 

4. Trust But Verify 

Trust in organizations is very important. As a leader works with their employees, they need to trust but verify their work. Once leaders verify that the competence levels of their folks are at a good level, they can trust them more and more and don’t have to micromanage. But when employees are newer to a task or role, they may have to provide more input and guidance. Trust is a continuum. I suggest to adjust the style based on the employee you are working with.

5. Monitor Through Stages 

Micromanaging is ineffective. Trusting blindly leaves you at risk. Instead, use a bifocal process where you trust through weekly and quarterly team insights. Lightly monitor present activities through weekly scrum-like 15-minute team huddles where everyone can share what they've done for the week and their focus for the following week. Then use KPI, key performance indicators, for quarterly checks. 

6. Watch Each Employee's Scale 

There is no single way to manage a team uniformly, due to differences in personality, level of professional and personal development, as well as their experience within the team, the company and industry. As such, the best approach is to ask each employee upfront what their preference is for regular check-ins and management style. Newbies will want more help and input; experts will want less. 

7. Use Trust As Currency 

Trust in business makes things work efficiently and faster. Distrust in business makes things difficult and arduous. In the workplace, using trust as currency implies its acceptance as a general operating system. Micromanagement puts people on edge. Leaders who trust their staff to get the job done and empower them with necessary tools, will undoubtedly have better outcomes than those who do not. 

8. Collaborate To Better Delegate 

Leaders fail when they over- or under-manage their teams. Opening the lines of communication and making a plan together means that delegation feels like collaboration. The hand-off and expectations are clean, clear and on a timeline, established mutually during the listening and planning process. Oversight is mutually agreed to in the exchange, and no information falls through the cracks. 

9. Listen To Feedback 

Get feedback from your customers, your peers and teams is a key point to get the pulse of the business.  

10. Have A Working Relationship 

Micromanagers are successful because they control people. But they have to do all the work to get a little out of their people. Those who start a working relationship with trust get a lot from people with less effort on their part because they use the secret sauce of accountability. Leaders who trust allow others to own their work and the outcomes for it. By asking questions, they help guide. 

11. Identify Team Style 

There is no one place for a leader on this spectrum. Some leaders I have observed fall closer to micromanaging because that is what works. Others are more "hands-off" with their team because the members are self-motivated. The challenge comes when you have a hybrid team, which requires both styles. This occurs often when leaders inherit teams. 

12. Communication 

In 2012 Google launched “Project Aristotle,” an initiative to discover why some teams work nicely and some don't. These experts dove into 50 years of academic research. And, in the end, they found out that:
👉 It is all about the leader´s ability to Communicate and show high Empathy.  (regardless of the leadership style).  

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     - 10 Hotel Contract & Procurement Negotiation Tips

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