Management: Balancing Autonomy with the Need for Oversight

However, management, as distinct from top leadership, is also critical to the success of any organization. Whether allocating resources, creating focus, or dealing with problems daily, management is a critical component of making things happen every day.

While management isn’t as lauded or well-recognized as leadership, it’s equally essential inside any growing organization. Leadership and management are the yin and yang of setting and executing a vision.

However, leaders and managers are confused about the role of autonomy and freedom. Some leaders embrace the idea that their managers need very little oversight. They take pride in giving their managers absolute freedom to operate.

Well, I’d like to challenge that notion a bit. Instead, as leaders, we must embrace Ronald Reagan’s famous saying: “Trust but verify.”

Let me explain.

Effective Delegation

I’ve written about the need for middle management inside a growing organization. Having an effective middle management team enables one to reach a higher level.

Confusion can arise between top leaders and this layer of middle managers about how leaders and managers need to interact.

Many leaders, for example, think their role is simply to assign management a job or task and then let them do it.

I recently saw this mindset at work in an academic organization. The leader believed their only obligation was to set the agenda, wipe their hands, and walk away. The leader didn’t see any need to remain involved to see whether any goals were met, and, quite predictably, it resulted in disaster — mistakes, delays, and unhappy customers.

The point is that, as leaders, we want to balance effective delegation and micromanagement. Like many things, too much of a good thing can be bad. However, we must do what is appropriate for the competency of the people we are delegating to.

In other words, unless someone in a management role is super skilled, you must provide some leadership oversight.

Providing Oversight

Some leaders say, “People like working for me because I give them their freedom.” There is merit in this view, as high performers do appreciate autonomy.

However, as a leader, you need to be fully attuned to the quality of the work you’ve assigned or delegated to that manager. If you turn a blind eye to the outcomes the manager produces, you’re exposing your organization and yourself to the risk of low-quality work. The remedy is to provide an appropriate level of oversight.

When I say you need to provide oversight, I mean you need to hold people accountable for results. We want to give people enormous freedom to execute. However, as a leader, you can never delegate your responsibility to ensure the work gets done on time and with the expected quality.

Again, the level of oversight you provide will depend heavily on the person you’re working with. Maybe it’s a final check-in before a product goes to market. Or perhaps you need to set up periodic meetings to get updates on the project. You can use a reasonably light touch except perhaps in some high-risk areas where you must watch out for landmines. The closer the issues get to going below the water line, the more you need to be involved.

Another Set of Eyes

Interestingly, even when working with highly competent and skilled individuals, good managers often appreciate having that second set of eyes on their work to ensure that they didn’t miss something. Rather than be offended, they welcome a minor oversight. After all, we’re human, and we make mistakes.

Case in point: we run an annual CEO summit as part of my organization, the CEO Project. It’s a big part of what we do. I have delegated my colleague Sharon to run the event, which she has done for many years. Sharon is highly competent, and I know she will do a fantastic job. However, I still check in with her about a few critical areas of the event’s success. Why? Because leaders never lose responsibility for the outcome of the event.

Sharon welcomes my light touch because, as an A player, she also wants to ensure the event goes off without any hitches, and some light oversight can help ensure that outcome.

Working Together