Know When NOT to Help Your Team

One Saturday, I decided to build a simple wooden 3’x4’ platform for my gas grill to rest on, as my side yard is slightly slanted. I went to the home improvement store, bought my lumber and a box of screws, and I was ready to start. I measured twice and then plugged in my circular saw. As I started cutting the first piece, I knew something was wrong. The saw barely made a dent in the wood, and smoke started to billow. Immediately, I knew the issue. My saw blade was so dull that it was unable to cut swiftly and cleanly, and was mostly just burning the wood.

I had a choice.

Stay with the dull blade and maybe get through one cut in 5 to 10 minutes, or go back to the store and purchase a new, sharp blade to easily slice through the wood in seconds. The decision was actually easy. I took the time to run to the store and buy the new blade. It makes sense to use the appropriate tools and to do the job right.

As a hands-on manager, it made me think about how I want to stay very close to the day-to-day tasks of my software development team, and that often means taking on some of the work. But in doing so, am I micro-managing—or a better analogy—am I the dull saw blade? That is, does my involvement cause a slowdown in the tasks when my team is perfectly capable of doing the work, as they have the appropriate and sharpened skills?

It reminded me of an article from 2016 by Jack Welch titled “Why I Love Micromanaging and You Should Too”, it discussed bosses who get deeply involved in the work of their employees who are capable and competent. Surprisingly, his overall view is…he approves.

Jack follows the “accordion approach”, by which a manager needs to get very close to his or her people and their work when they need help and pull back when it is just extraneous.

As a manager, you can’t get deeply involved just because you are bored or because you do not trust your team. Those are the wrong reasons. Jack’s reasons for getting involved and consciously micro-managing are when:

• You bring unique expertise to a situation.
• You can expedite things.
• You have highly relevant skills that no one else on the team brings.
• Your presence sets an example of best practices and prevents costly mistakes.
• Your presence signals the organization’s priorities.

So don’t be the dull saw blade. Managers, help your team when they actually need you. They will appreciate it.