Did you know under-communicating often creates a void that leads to the need to micromanage?
Sounds like a crazy paradox, but anecdotal and research-based evidence confirms under-communicating causes leaders to spend too much time below their role, creating inefficiencies and compounded stress.
Two Real Stories
Meet Freyda
| Freyda runs a division of about forty people, with four managers reporting directly to her. When we met, she shared how empowering her direct reports and relying on them to be the experts of their business areas was important to her. Freyda also shared that she had an “open door” policy, and all forty team members had an open invitation to talk with her. Sounds pretty great, right? I thought so too, until I got into their onboarding assessment and heard the levels of frustration amongst her team. Rather than feeling empowered, they felt hampered and micromanaged — the opposite of Freyda’s intentions. As I learned more about the day-to-day operations from Freyda and her team, I learned she held a quarterly all-hands meeting, a monthly meeting with direct reports (often canceled), and zero standing one-on-one meetings. Freyda associated standing meetings with micromanaging, so she relied on impromptu walk-ins, emails, and calls to give and receive information. As a result, no one ever had “all” or the exact same information, except Freyda. And, she spent most of her days entrenched in unplanned discussions with frustrated staff members, who had some kind of problem she had to resolve. |
| Opposing Perspectives Freyda’s team believed she had to control all communication and make all decisions. They viewed her as the bottleneck slowing down all of their work. Because they felt disregarded, two of her managers were looking for other roles. As the holder of all the information and maker of the decisions, Freyda’s perspective was that her managers had no leadership skills. As a result, she extended little to no authority, and basically forbade them from attending cross-divisional meetings without her. Freyda had built an identity around NOT being a micromanager, while unwittingly making her managers dependent on her. She was so entrenched in their daily operations that she had no space to do the things actually required of her role. |
Now Meet Lorie
Lorie leads a group of about sixty-five, with five managers reporting to her. When we met, she was about to double her responsibility through a division merger.
Lorie also shared how important it was for her direct reports to be empowered to do their jobs. From her view, they were selected because they are capable and she had too much on her plate to be a micromanager.
As I got into their onboarding assessment, what I found was a 180 from Freyda’s. Lorie’s managers felt empowered and supported. They trusted her and felt trusted by her.
Lorie viewed her team as competent and self-sufficient: “They don’t need me, but I’m here to support them.”
To manage her growing responsibilities, Lorie had developed communication norms to ensure information flowed in a timely manner, and her direct reports had the consistent communication they needed to make good decisions and lead their teams well.
Lorie’s Communication Rhythm:
- Quarterly all-hands meeting: Results, updates, acknowledgments
- Standing 20-minute weekly tag-up with her direct reports: hot topics
- Standing monthly 90-minute communication meeting with direct reports: Results, downloads, discussions, cross-functional decisions
- Standing biweekly 30-minute one-on-ones with each direct report: Their agenda items, feedback
They didn’t always need all the time reserved, but routine communication kept everyone engaged, on the same page, and moving forward.
Outside the standard meetings, Lorie heard from direct reports only for urgent matters that couldn’t wait until their one-on-one. She attended the meetings necessary for her level and had time for the things only she could do.
Lorie’s communication structure and consistency enabled her to double the size of her organization and maintain her focus on level appropriate responsibilities.
Effective Communication: One Antidote to Micromanagement
As leaders, we do the best we can with what we have at the time.
In my experience, ineffective communication can be the product of continuing what we’ve seen modeled or not fully understanding how much easier things become when it is effective. I don’t believe leaders decide to be ineffective communicators or intentionally create confusion and frustration. And, as Mya Angelo said, when we know better, we do better.
If you think your communication could use a boost, here are four simple steps to build trust, empower, and develop your team, while warding off the frustration and inefficiency that come with unintended micromanagement:
- Standardize your communication system. Knowing what to expect helps us all thrive. Establish routine communication meetings, including set calendars and agenda formats. (And stick to them.) Lorie’s framework is easy to implement and works.
- Define the who, what, why, and by-when for action items. (Leave the “how” to the ones doing the job.) Taking the time to establish clarity on these points builds in accountability for aligned activity.
- Establish benchmark expectations. Agree on what progress looks like and set a check-in schedule in advance. In “How to Help (Without Micromanaging),” Harvard Business Review authors call this aligning the rhythm of your involvement with what your people actually need.
- Ensure mutual understanding. Before ending discussions, ask participants to share their understanding in their own words. If someone else was informing you, volunteer to share your takeaways and invite corrections. This simple action uncovers omissions and confusion and provides the opportunity to clarify.
These four steps scale down or up easily for varying team sizes and are as effective for major projects as they are for routine one-on-one discussions.
The Wrap
At the outset, Freyda and Lorie shared nearly identical perspectives with me. However, their communication practices drove completely different results.
A communication void fills up with assumptions, workarounds, and unnecessary crises and urgency. It also breeds distrust, disengagement, and low morale.
I encourage you to take an objective look at your communication practices. Commit to improving any voids you may be unwittingly creating.
If your days are jammed with work below your level and silly team emergencies, it may be time to revamp your communication strategies. Reach out today and let’s talk about how we can help.
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Author Karen Pelot, MBA, MDR, PCC, is the principal & lead practitioner at PERSPECTIVES. She is an award-winning executive and senior leadership strategy coach, partnering with leaders to build high-trust, high-accountability, and high-performing teams.
