Last month we wrote that managers must be problem finders and givers, not problem solvers. When managers fail to do so they create two significant, longer-term problems: (1) they rob their people of development opportunities and (2) they divert their own energy away from the higher-level activities on which they should be focused. To be effective, managers must embrace this concept and, if necessary, get beyond the emotional roadblocks (such as needing to be needed and feeling guilty) that often inhibit them from living up to it.
Today let's turn our attention to the other side of the equation, to those managers who have no trouble being problem finders and givers. Because while executing on this concept is usually a good thing, there are some managers who allow the pendulum to swing so far the other way that they overdo it, thus turning a strength into a liability.
We've all dealt with these managers: They look for and dissect the tiniest of problems, they hound their people day and night, they demand to be told about every last detail. With all of this oversight and follow-up, the outcome is obvious – they stifle their people's ability to function, to take initiative and critically, to be accountable.
Of course these meticulous problem finders are popularly referred to as micromanagers. But at Fortune, we like to say that they're suffering from Management OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) – and it's a malady that strikes far too many managers.
The obsessive problem-solving manager and the manager with Management OCD create surprisingly similar problems for themselves and their organisation. They......
- Deprive people of development opportunities
Clearly employees don't only develop by learning how to solve their problems but also by being held accountable. It becomes very difficult for employees to develop any sense of responsibility or ownership when a manager demands to be kept abreast of the most trivial of tasks. This produces employees who emotionally check out... and it may not take long until they physically check out and leave the company! (Or worse, they stick around for the 'free' ride they're allowed to take by dysfunctional leadership. In some organisations it's known as the '2 or 20 rule': leave within 2 years or stay for life!)
- Lose sight of priorities
Managers suffering from Management OCD get compulsively lost in the minutiae of activity and lose focus on what's really important: the business objectives and goals. It's the unfortunate trap of focusing on pleasing activities rather than results; this myopic tunnel vision confuses and distracts people, and what they're working towards, and as a result team performance suffers.
To be sure, many managers have a tough time finding that appropriate ground between being a problem solver and being the problem finder. But with sound ongoing management training and coaching, organisations can support their managers to determine where to draw that line and make the right decisions that will produce functional and effective leadership and teams.