The micromanagers are stuck in the weeds all the time. They drive their teams away because they exhaust them with details. The are exhausting for managers to manage too. They are frequently critiquing their team and railroading their own people. In fact, they aren’t very well-equipped to work in a team environment at all. They often take on more than they can chew and they are quick to burn out. They are also the ones who complain the most to me about their counterparts the laissez faire managers.

On the other hand, the laissez faire managers are taking the “high-level” approach far too often. These managers often say, “My team can manage themselves.” The result? Their teams tend to wander through their jobs without a clear direction and focus. For example, laissez faire managers often over-delegate work to their team without providing them proper accountability or guidance. These managers don’t meet with their teams or show reliability and consistency when managing. And their teams are often frustrated or defeated by the lack of direction.

Identifying the type of manager you are is the fastest way to make corrections. Are you a micromanager or a laissez faire manager? Or maybe you’re the ideal manager? Take a moment to ask yourself how you approach tough situations.

In a tough situation where my team has dropped the ball, what’s your first response as a manager?

Option 1: Let’s say you start combing through all the balls that got dropped, placing names next to fallen balls. You assign blame where it’s due. Your first step in correcting this issue? Tough and strong conversations with your team about their missteps in this situation. You’re quick to pull all their workloads from your team. It’s time for you to take over running this project. You clearly can’t let them mess it up again. If this sounds like you, you might be a micromanager.

Option 2: Let’s say, you turn to your team and you say, “What happened?” You wait for a response. Your team expresses how they had concerns from the beginning, but failed to update you. They take ownership of their errors. You ask them, “How can we avoid this in the future?” They propose ideas and potential solutions. Together you come up with an action plan and new process. If this sounds like you, you may be an ideal manager. You’re interested in knowing from your team how this issue escalated. Once they explain, you bring them into the conversation to problem-solve with you. Your team and you come up with a solution and collectively agree and commit to it. This is what an ideal manager does.

Option 3: Let’s say you think to yourself, “Well, my team works pretty hard. I am sure they did the best they could.” In this instance, you’re not interested in investigating what happened. In fact, you’re not interested in ruffling any feathers at all. Sh*t happens. You’re okay with a few missteps. They happen all the time. The problem? You haven’t acknowledged the possibility that several members of your team members may have made missteps. And you haven’t taken a moment to even assess if their missteps could be your fault. Fault is such a dirty word. You’ve brushed off the dropped balls as the cost of doing business and moved on. You’ve taken the easiest route to management: ignoring problems. If this sounds like you, you’re likely a laissez faire manager.

What should you do if you realize you’re one of the two types of managers who have room for improvement? Don’t worry. The first step is realizing you need to make some improvements. Let’s talk about ways to how approach making changes to become a better manager.

The Micromanager

The micromanager is going to need to take a deep breath and check his or her workload. If you’re finding yourself constantly bombarded with too much work because you’re not delegating, then it’s time to re-evaluate. Ask yourself, “Do I trust my employees? Do I trust them to get the job done?” If you can’t confidently say yes, then it’s time to take a step back. Remember, teams exist to bring together talented people to achieve big goals. Those goals can’t completed one person. A team by definition requires at least two people. This means two people sharing different parts of the workload. When you work in teams, you have to establish trust. Trust that your teammate can do the job and will perform. And you can’t be doing your job as a manager if you’re a team of one. Part of your job as a manager is to delegate and lead your team to manage the project at hand.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. And trust isn’t built in a day either. Trust takes time. It requires a manager who can be okay with their team sometimes making mistakes. This is how they learn. Your team will never be 100% perfect, but it can achieve progress over time. Thus, it’s okay to let perfection go in the name of your team’s ability to grow and develop over time.

Still struggling with the perfectionist bug? I once had a manager come to me and say, “I can’t trust my employee to do things right. I have to double check all her work for errors.” I explained that this was a waste of her time and of her employee’s time. Instead, I suggested she pick a handful of items to check. If she found errors in those few she selected, then she should hand all the work back and tell her employee to re-review her entire work. I explained that it’s not the manager’s job to review every detail of an employee’s work. The employee needs to learn to be thorough and double check his or her work before handing it in for review. It’s not the manager’s job to be the proof-readers for their employees. It’s the manager’s job to lead them and guide them toward becoming the best versions of themselves.

The Laissez Faire Manager

The laissez faire manager is going to need to get real about his or her hands off approach to leading their team. It’s not working. It never was working. Once the laissez faire manager can admit this, he or she can make the changes that will be effective.

What’s step one in correcting your bad behaviors? Setup regular weekly or bimonthly meetings with each of your employees. I call these 1x1s or accountability calls. You will use these meetings to check in on your team’s workload, help them overcome obstacles, and help them see the power of your leadership. The key to making these meetings actually work is keeping them. In other words, if these become meetings on your calendar you never attend, then you’re not actually leading. You’ve added an unnecessary calendar invite to your calendar. Definitely not pat on the back worthy.

Good leadership starts with good communication. Good communication means you can’t ever find yourself saying, “I’m too busy to meet with my employees.” If this phrase comes out of your mouth, then you’re missing the point of leading your team. If you’re busy, it likely means your team is busy too. Busy schedules for your team and you mean that keeping your meeting time paramount. Your 1×1 meeting will ensure the transfer of good communication, accountability, and guidance. When you’re more in the loop with what’s going on with your team, your team will feel more secure and be more open about their frustrations, needs, and capacity. This is key to understanding if you want to keep a strong team in place.

Now that you have a clear understanding of how to become a good manager, what qualities or traits do you think you’d want to hire for an employee? I’m curious what your ideal team would look like if you had the choice to select your dream team!