Collaborators are not puppets.
You can not expect them to achieve goals if you constantly micro-manage them. If you usually do this, you will end up frustrated and wasted time controlling them.
Stop continuously checking what, how, and when they are doing it, and suggest your ideas and solutions.
Do not inhibit them.
If you are micro-managing, it is because you do not trust them and do not trust because you missed some preconditions and missed setting some frames.
The secret is in pre-framing agreements.
Teams and single collaborators start to perform their magic only after they know the following:
- What are they accountable for in their role?
One mistake is assigning tasks to collaborators who lack the skills or mindset to execute them.
- What are we focusing on this quarter?
How can they organize their focus if they don't know what's essential to achieve this quarter?
- What project do they own?
If they feel they do not have ownership of the projects you assign them (because you interfere constantly), they will shut down the proactive mode and pass into the waiting mode, always waiting for your input.
Learn to manage agreements, not people.
Below is a list of tools for creating agreements. If you don't have one or more of the tools or one or more of the tools is wrong, you will be unable to create agreements, and you will go back to micro-managing and stress.
The tools list is specially crafted to induce/create agreements.
- Job descriptions
- One-page yearly growth plan
- Quarters plan
- Projects Plans (subscribe to the blog, and you will get a free Projects Plans Template)
By the way, if you can delegate the task of creating/refining the tools and establishing the agreements, you will have taken a further step toward the status of hand-off C-level executive.
To your success
