A lurking cost I see in business is what happens when executives are unwilling to let go of detail.
Executives who not only personally require a deep level of detail, but also require that everyone in the management chain understands and processes a deep level of detail, are paralyzing and demotivating their organization.
And in reality, they are introducing more risk than they are “catching” by being personally savvy in the detail – and demanding that of all their managers are too.
Never move detail up
A useful rule of thumb is that you should never move detail up in the organization.
As a manager, you are responsible for turning detail into useful insights and action plans — these are the thing you should be moving up. That’s how you build value and make progress.
But some executives just won’t accept that. This frankly drives me crazy.
The cost of detail
The idea that your value as a leader is only highly regarded if you understand a deep level of detail, so all of your managers must stay versed in all the detail is just bad leadership.
By keeping everyone drowning in detail you are actually destroying organizational value.
You are damaging your organization’s effectiveness. And most importantly, insisting on reviewing detail at every level, wastes a huge amount of time — time that is then not spent on moving important discussions and work forward.
I see this a lot. Progress grinds to a halt because it takes hours and hours and hours to review all the detail.
By the time it gets to the executive, dozens of people at multiple have reviewed the detail, but no one has had any time to do anything about it!
Deal with your addiction
As an executive, if you are addicted to detail, the best thing you can do is admit to yourself that your need for detail is for your own entertainment.
If you think you are creating business value by staying in the detail you are not.
Sure you may catch someone out or add something in the detail every now and then, but what you are really doing is ensuring that your organization never increases its capability.
You are competing with your managers, and you are constraining the value of your whole organization.
You are ensuring that your organization can never get any smarter than you are.
And that is a real shame. And that is not the job of an executive leader.
Don’t forget to do your real, executive job
The job of an executive leader is to build a highly capable team that can deliver, but that can also learn and evolve and get more capable over time. If you keep everyone reviewing detail because that makes you feel comfortable you are failing to do the job of an executive leader.
A much better way to deal with your addiction is to allow your managers to do their jobs, question them on strategies and outcomes (not score them on details), and then go right to the individuals doing the work to get your fix.
Go to the individuals
If you want to talk about details, talk with the people who should be responsible for detail – the individuals doing the work. Learn everything you want.
This frees up your managers to do their job. You get your details, but you don’t slow business progress by having everyone slog through all the details.
When you are talking to individuals, ask questions and listen. But be careful not to overly judge them or assign work.
If you discover something you’d like to see changed, make sure the work assignment gets passed down through the management chain.
Never do a skip level assignment of work – the manager feels dis-empowered, other priorities are put at risk, and the employee feels tortured not knowing what they should do or who their boss really is.
Let go of detail
Detail is crucial if you are the one doing the work. But if you are the one managing the people or managing the managers, you need to value the leadership and managerial work and be really good at that, more than be the expert in the details. That’s what the business and your team needs from you.
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About Patty
Patty Azzarello is an executive, best-selling author, speaker and CEO/Business Advisor. She became the youngest general manager at HP at the age of 33, ran a billion dollar software business at 35 and became a CEO for the first time at 38 (all without turning into a self-centered, miserable jerk)
You can find Patty at www.AzzarelloGroup.com, follow her on twitter or facebook, or read her book RISE…3 Practical Steps for Advancing Your Career, Standing Out as a Leader, AND Liking Your Life.
