The Manager Who Manages Everything — Except What Matters
A conversation starter from Combined Arms Consulting:
Points covered:
1. Micromanagement helps no one
2. Choosing the right people and creating the right culture is the first step in thriving
3. Consider events outside your control as a factor in directing your next step
Effective management and inspiring leadership are essential in today's corporate landscape. Never more so with the incursion of AI into the workplace. This has been highlighted recently by the number of layoffs that have occurred in the tech sector.
Add to this the disruption of the supply chain due to the war in the Middle East, and the role of an effective leader and manager has never been more important.
Focusing on small individual components that you are comfortable with, without understanding the whole, is akin to applauding a goal without understanding how you got there.
That is the management trap most SME leaders fall into due to their proximity to the event.
Henry Mintzberg spent years observing managers in real organisations. What he found was sharp and uncomfortable. Most business owners spend the bulk of their time reacting — putting out fires, rather than identifying the source.
At best, this is reaction management rather than true leadership.
So, rather than focusing solely on the annoying emails and daily crises, the question you should ask is whether you are putting in place the structures and culture that will minimise these mundane tasks in the future.
Are you considering the effects of your organisation beyond your four walls? Are you informing and preparing your team to deal with whatever they need to face in the future with flexibility and with informed data?
You grow a business, it becomes part of your identity. Stepping back and seeing the big picture is hard, especially as no one can deal with the day-to-day issues like you — sound familiar?
Generals do not storm the barricades; they create the means by which their team does.
Effective management is not about controlling every outcome. It is about creating conditions where good outcomes become more likely — with or without you in the room.
It's not all about you; you do not need to be everywhere, but ironically, if you create the right culture, choose and prepare the right team, you are metaphorically everywhere.
Empower others, so you have time to think and review.
It'll be better for your business and better for your ulcers.
Management without direction is expensive. It exhausts the leader. It demoralises the team. And it quietly stagnates the business from the inside out.
Do you think this conversation is worth pursuing for your enterprise? Please reach out
Asking questions never asked — Combined Arms Consulting