In the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, there’s a scene in which a surf instructor, Kunu, attempts to teach the main character, Peter, how to stand up on his board.
“The less you do, the more you do,” Kunu says, his way of advocating for a more instinctual approach. As Peter practices standing up on the board, Kunu continually says that he’s doing too much: “Remember, don’t do anything. Nothing.”
Eventually Peter is just lying still on the board and Kunu’s tone shifts: “Well, you gotta do more than that.”
It makes for a funny moment, but there’s also a truth to the advice of doing less. This scene came to mind when I was thinking about the concept of micromanagement. The owners of one of the companies featured in this month’s issue, Hoover Electric, Plumbing, Heating & Cooling in Troy, Michigan, pride themselves on not being micromanagers and empowering their employees.
“I just stay out of the way and let them do what they need to do,” Hoover co-owner Marcus Piwonski says. “People love that management style. I had one employee say he never believed there was a business that runs like ours.”
The less you do, the more you do. By having a more hands-off management approach, Hoover has had a lot of luck in the area of employee recruitment and retention. People want to come work for a company like Hoover. And having talented, happy employees doing good work translates into success for the overall company.
But having a hands-off management style doesn’t literally mean doing nothing. It takes effort to have the training, tools, and processes in place that then give you the ability to provide that employee autonomy. Of course personality is a factor as well. Some people simply struggle with letting go. Even if they recognize that micromanaging is a bad thing, they can’t help themselves. I read through some articles to compile a few tips:
Communicate and set clear expectations. If your employees have a thorough understanding upfront of what they need to accomplish, you’ll hopefully have less temptation to hover over every detail. Maybe a micromanager is just someone who hasn’t expressed objectives clearly, and thus feels the need to be over-involved in everything.
Focus on results. Sometimes a task requires a specific procedure, and if so, be ready to explain why that is. But other times the how doesn’t really matter. What’s important is the end result. Perhaps an employee doesn’t do something in exactly the same way you would’ve done it. But what does it matter if it works for them and is achieving the intended goal? If the how doesn’t matter, stay out of it.
Encourage feedback. You’re not a mind-reader, so it is helpful to get feedback from employees about how your management style is perceived. For example, one option is a multiple-choice Goldilocks test: “Am I too hands-on, too hands off or just right? I’m asking because everyone operates differently, and it’s important to me that we work well together.”
Enjoy this month’s issue.
