Micro-train now, or micro-manage later

Addressing the agonies of delegation

For all the ink spilled in the management literature about delegation, a lot of managers still just don’t do it.

The intractable sense for these managers is: I’ll get it done faster and better myself.

It’s hard to blame them. When a competent person becomes manager, it’s incredibly demoralizing to hand off a task and have it come back and be… well, not what you had in mind.

Now you have to:

1. Undo/fix the work product, AND

2. Manage the employee’s emotions as you correct them.

It’s exhausting.

It’s time consuming.

You start to wonder why you have employees at all.

The underlying issue

What’s really going on here is a manager who refuses to manage. They’re still operating with the mindset of doer vs. manager.

One big factor in the resistance to taking on the mantle of management is the fear of micromanagement.

Many of us see micromanagement as the ultimate sin. We don’t want to hover and nag and direct someone while they do the work we assigned them, so we stand back and hope.

Is it any wonder we get results we don’t like?

I love the short post “Micromanagement Is Underrated” by Patrick Lencioni. He writes:

Today, for every real micromanager I come across, especially at the top of organizations, there are dozens of abdication managers. These are the people who know little about what their direct reports are working on, and defend their approach by citing their own busy schedules, or worse yet, by proudly using words like trust, autonomy and empowerment.

It’s a good thing to want to empower people. But, ironically, it’s this hands-off management up front that often causes managers to have to micromanage later.

My suggestion is to flip that equation: “Micro-train” up front so you don’t have to micromanage later.

What does “micro-training” mean?

It means taking the time at the start to give your employee a complete picture of the assignment instead of just tossing them the task and walking away.

How granular and prescriptive you get depends on the task and the employee, but ultimately they should start any new task you delegate with knowledge of three specific things:

1. WHAT they’re supposed to do (that’s management)

2. WHY it needs to be done (that’s leadership)

3. HOW it’s best achieved (that’s coaching)

This takes more time up front and it requires discipline. But the few minutes it usually takes prevent the time-wasting frustration loop many managers are stuck in now.

When you give someone the WHAT, WHY, and HOW, you’re giving them a framework to operate within. It’s important to frame micro-training as passing along knowledge rather than dictating that they do it exactly like you would: Phrases like “Here’s how I typically do it” and giving them examples of past work product can help frame micro-training as just that - training - rather than a mandated process.

Because that’s the other thing: They need the core framework first, but you don’t necessarily want them to do it exactly like you would. If you’re hiring smart, driven people, it’s very possible they can apply their judgment and expertise and find even better ways to do it.

It’s like teaching someone a craft, like painting or sewing. They need to know the rules of that craft to achieve competency - but then they might innovate and break the rules in innovative and highly useful ways.

The problem is, they can’t get there if you never taught them the rules in the first place.

What micro-training sounds like

Here’s an example:

Hey Paul, I’d like to walk you through a weekly sales report I need. It should show North American sales broken down by sales rep and product line, and I’ll need it by Friday at 9 AM. [WHAT]

My boss reviews these numbers every Friday at 1 PM to spot trends and decide where to allocate resources. When she sees a rep struggling or a product line declining, she’ll want to understand what’s happening. [WHY]

Here’s how I’d approach it: You can pull the data from Salesforce, and I’m sending you a template that shows the format. You’ll see the reps are sorted by total sales volume and the product lines are grouped by category, which helps patterns jump out. If you notice anything down more than 10% week-over-week, please highlight it in red. And if something in the data looks unusual, just give me a heads up so we can figure out together if it’s real or a data error. I’ll plan to review it by noon Friday so we have time to talk through any questions. [HOW]

Does that make sense? Any questions?

All that takes only a few minutes, but it means Paul isn’t guessing about what you need, why it matters, or how to approach it.

Next time you’re about to delegate something, ask yourself: Have I actually explained WHAT this task really is? Have I told them WHY this matters? And have I explained HOW I do it to achieve the desired result?

If the answer is no, you’re setting yourself up to micromanage later.