[Leadership] is a balance of holding on and letting go.  ~rumi

Recently, I joined thousands of other Chicagoans and stood staring into the night sky over the Chicago River waiting for Nick Wallenda to walk a tightrope 60 stories in the air without a net or tether.  It doesn’t take an acrobatic expert to conclude that Wallenda had only one choice: to get it just right and walk the tightrope without wavering because he had an extremely limited margin of error.

As the world has now seen, Wallenda was successful and he achieved yet another daring feat and made the “Skyscraper Live” walk look easy.

For many leaders and managers, the balance between accountability and micromanagement may feel like a tightrope walk, trying to find the sweet spot with each step and hold people accountable without becoming a micromanager.

Accountability is all about holding an employee responsible for achieving the results they committed to. Micromanagement is dictating the activity of an employee as to how they will achieve the results.  Here are just a few possibilities to determine how you’re doing on the tightrope of accountability vs micromanagement.

Delegate the problem, don’t solve it.  The first sign of micromanaging is when delegating a problem or project you also dictate the specifics of the solution or “how” to solve the problem or complete the project.

Share experiences, don’t instruct.  As the work progresses, you may see a familiar situation arise.  If there are experiences to share then share the story; don’t turn the learning into “just do these steps.”

Listen to progress, don’t review it.  Micromanaging can also take the form of being specific about how progress should be reported or “summoning” people to review the progress.  If folks have been asked to take on a project, make sure they have the freedom to define the mechanics of the project as well.

Provide feedback, don’t course correct.  Things might not always go as well as everyone wanted and when that happens managers can sometimes slip into “gotta get this fixed” mode.  This not only dis-empowers, but de-motivates.  When things aren’t going well, the time is right for honest feedback and a two-way dialogue.

May we all be as talented as Nik Wallenda and walk the tightrope with confidence and ease.

Portions of this blog were borrowed from:  http://blog.learningbyshipping.com/2013/06/18/delegating-or-micromanaging-threading-the-needle/