Control Freak or True Leader?

Why your tight grip is quietly killing ownership and growth

Dear Leader,

Last week I watched you bristle when you saw an email sent to a customer from your customer service rep. She was informing them of a delay in their order, but you felt that it was conveying incompetence. You confronted her and requested that you get a chance to review these customer updates before they go out. From an outsider's perspective, her action was perfectly appropriate and later you acknowledged it. But your response reveals a fear of something deeper and is emblematic of comments I have heard from your people.

Your people state that you are bottlenecking, second-guessing, hovering and micromanaging decisions. I sense this is not your intent, but it is accurate.

Imagine you decide to save money driving to work by choosing to carpool. During your week to drive, the passenger begins to nitpick. "Change lanes", "Don't take that exit", "Why are you following so close?" If that continues, how long is this carpool relationship going to last?

In your business this means that the capable are driven to escape while simultaneously suppressing your capacity to grow. In the case of the customer service rep, she feels the need to await your input before updating customers on their orders. Emails stack in your mailbox awaiting review. The result is that she is not doing her job, you are. If this pattern is repeating elsewhere, it would explain why growth has been elusive. I also would not be surprised to find that your most capable people brushing up their resumes.

We need to understand what is driving this in you. Grab a piece of paper and write down 3 scenarios where you recently felt you needed to step in for an employee to 'fix things'. For each, ask what negative result you are trying to prevent and the likelihood of it occurring had you not intervened?

Then try this on your customer service rep. Provide her with clear boundaries and expectations of how, when and why to communicate to customers. Include nuances for particular customers and even have some role-play if necessary. The purpose is to teach her. Then release her to do it herself even if that means imperfectly. Follow up on her progress every 10 days or so.

She hasn't had this freedom before, so don't be surprised when the old habits of coming to you return. Don't fall into the temptation to make decisions for her. Instead, walk her through deciding for herself based on the guidelines, boundaries and the company vision.

Teaching her is freeing you. And freeing yourself as the point person for every decision will transform this from a job to a business. A business where the capable exercise their talents. The more you release this tight control over the small things, the more control you will get over what matters.

Park Wiker

P.S. By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning. Lao Tzu