I Was Wrong About Micromanagement.

My first performance review as a manager at Yahoo! taught me what most managers never learn in their career.

"Your team loves you but there were no promotions," my boss, the Chief Architect of Yahoo, started my performance review.

"So I gave you an 'okay' rating."

Taken aback, I asked, "Why?"

"You've been a manager for only a year and might be making a classic rookie mistake:

Avoiding Micromanagement.”

Looking at my puzzled face, he broke it down like this:

“You are unknowingly avoiding important management work assuming they’re micromanagement.

As a result, your team stays in the comfort zone.

Nobody grows.
Nobody gets promoted.
Then work gets boring and ...”

I was baffled. He was right.

How did I not see this?

So I asked, "But how do I know what is truly micromanagement?"

"Write down what you think is ‘too much.’ Then, reflect on it."

Next year, I had a new boss.

"Your team said great things about you and it shows:

- Two engineers were promoted
- Another took on larger projects
- You initiated two more projects, doubling your team size"

I exhaled a sigh of relief.

Here are 3 things I did:

1. I gave guidance.

I hesitated to give directions, fearing it was micromanagement.

I was wrong.

That's exactly where leadership shines.

But, nobody enjoys being bossed around.

When I connected with my team on a personal level, they shared their worries and ambitions.

My guidance became well-informed.

2. I gave candid feedback.

I tiptoed around problems, scared of being rude.

But this led to more confusion.

Nothing changed.

Here’s what I learned:

- People value candid feedback when they trust your intentions.
- But if you sugarcoat or gift-wrap it, they feel tricked.

When the mind games stopped, my feedback became sincere.

3. I held them accountable.

Fooled by "hands-off" management, I lost touch with my team's work.

Consequently, I was in the dark about their estimates.

But, the real elephant in the room was challenging them.

I aimed to be a leader who trusts their team.

In truth, my team trusted me to challenge them.

So, I adopted a new mantra:

Trust but verify.

But this surfaced a new challenge:

Holding people accountable takes guts.

It’s no joke. I told so many lies to myself to avoid it.

But as I built relationships and gave candid feedback, my team gave me the courage to ask.

I turned to my boss and said, "I'm thankful for the feedback. I'm happy my hard work is recognized."

He responded, "But I gave you an 'okay' rating."

That day, I jot down a new principle:

“Be the first to challenge your way of doing things.”

That's exactly how you grow.

---

📌📌📌 Raise your standards with my Brain-Powered Goal-Setting Lesson.

Complimentary for a limited time only: https://www.topengineermethod.com/offers/S9pRMBKs