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[Infographic] What Kind of Boss Are You: Micro-manager or Coach?

Jan 16, 2012 » by Cali & Jody

If micro-managers are like babysitters, then the bosses we all hope to have are like great coaches.

Coaches inspire and bring out the best in their team. Micro-managers slowly suck the life out of you.

Everybody knows a micro-manager, but nobody claims to be one. Certainly, bosses view themselves differently than their employees see them. 1 in 3 managers say they use a coaching style, but only 1 in 5 employees agree (according to this Adecco study). So, here’s our take on some of the most distinctive attributes of an inspiring coach and a micro-manager.

Take this quiz and see what kind of boss you are. (You can be honest… we won’t be taking grades!)

What else would you add to this list?

 

Who controls your time?
A micro-manger tells his employees when to come and go. He may (or may not) “allow” you to leave early before a holiday. You’ll have cringe-worthy conversations with him about working from home and mandatory meetings.

A coach trusts the team to be responsible for their time and meet outcomes. He rewards you for the results you produce, rather than how much overtime you’re putting in. Team meetings are optional and you feel free to skip them if you’re not needed.

Who inspires you?
A micro-manager is controlling and critical. Work has to be done her way, or it’s not good enough. In fact, the micro-manager assumes you have to be watched and made to stay on-task. If you make mistakes, she’s the first to criticize and belittle. She’s the last person you want to ask for help.

A coach inspires and supports her team. She encourages creative ways of approaching work and lets you decide how to get the best results. When you make a mistake, she’s there to figure out what went wrong and help you get back on track. You know she’s got your back.

[Listen in to Results-Only Radio this Tuesday at 1 p.m. (EST). The CultureRx team will be live talking about management styles and comparing micromanagers vs. coaches more in-depth. You can comment and ask questions via twitter and facebook with the hashtag #ROWE. Or leave a comment here and we'll answer it on the air!]

  • Sherry Marts

    Another characteristic of the “boss as coach” is that she considers the needs of the team when hiring new staff and evaluating (and letting go of, when necessary) current staff. I’ve found that the micro-manager is both fearful of change (change = loss of control) and readily seduced by staff who “suck up” to her. She will keep staff on long after they have outlived their usefulness, because those staff are so docile and darn good at being micro-managed.

    • http://twitter.com/StaceyMSwanson staceyswanson

      Sherry- Great point! Boss as coach does take into consideration the needs of the entire team!

  • Ed Dodds

    Jaime Lerner reinvented urban space in his native Curitiba, Brazil. Along the way, he changed the way city planners worldwide see what’s possible in the metropolitan landscape. He strikes me as a ROWE-ish thinking mayor who coaches/persuades for change 
    http://www.ted.com/talks/jaime_lerner_sings_of_the_city.html

  • Anonymous

    An employee and I did this today to see how I was doing as a manager.

    We agreed that while we liked most of the evaluation, we were hung up the word “rewards” in “rather than time and effort, rewards results instead.”

    Should work really about rewards? A reward is something you get for being highly ethical, like returning a lost wallet. But we actually know that rewards are among the worst ways to motivate employees.

    We should compensate people and they should be compensating for producing meaningful results. But that’s not a reward—it’s a fair price for a honest parcel of work.

    Make sense?

    • http://twitter.com/StaceyMSwanson staceyswanson

      Robby- As usual, I completely agree with your point of view.  A fair compensation for producing results should happen.  But, a reward is something above and beyond the fair compensation.  As an HR professional, I think the key with a reward is understanding each employee and what’s important to them.  One person’s reward may not be as valued to someone else.  The key is to understand what motivates each employee.

    • Christy Runningen, Culture Rx

      Robby,
      Some great points!  My view on ‘reward’ is that it may not actually mean what we think it does (extra compensation, or special trinkets, trophies, etc.)…perhaps what ‘reward’ should be in today’s work environment is reinforcement that the employee’s results are on track and valued by the company.  I do think that’s important, and that’s one of the best ways to reward adults in the adult workplace.

  • http://twitter.com/JodyROWE Jody Thompson

    Think about when you’re driving a car and you see a cop car.  What is the first thing you think? “Am I doing something wrong”? You get totally paranoid. Check your speed. Hope a headlight isn’t out. Ask yourself ‘are my tabs up to date’?  And on and on. Even if everything is fine, you feel stressed. When managers are hovering, it’s like a cop . . .

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  • http://www.guyfarmer.com Guy Farmer

    Great post. It’s so important for leaders to encourage employees to use their skills and abilities instead of hovering over them all day. Managing less also means getting more done because people feel like they have the ability to make decisions on their own and think creatively.

  • http://myflexiblepencil.com David M. Kasprzak

    It’s been said that everyone hates a cop…until they need one.  That’s what’s really wrong  with the current Taylor-esque style of command & control mangement – that no one actually needs their manager.  The boss doesn’t help you get things done, doesn’t help you to learn new ways of getting those things done, can’t offer advice on how to manage your career or how to grow as a person.  In fact, most bosses just dole out assignments and make sure bureaucratic procedure is followed.  

    Most employees have already figured out their assignments and can tell you at least 5 different ways around those procedures to accomplish the same end.  Since we know all employees are already motivated, intrinsically, the only thing we need to reward them with is a stoppage of all the de-motivation that takes place.

    All people are motivated to accomplish THEIR goals – and that is the thing to understand. They wish to accomplish THEIR goals, which may be at odds with the organization’s goals. What incentive programs, management interventions, or cultural practices do is to align individual and organizational goals, nothing more, nothing less. The rewarding of cash bonuses does this only briefly, and is not terribly efficient and certainly doesn’t guarantee future alignment. Nonetheless, they are effective for the short term and, since most managers are required to be focused on the short term, they persist. Cultural practices, however, are more likely to sustain this alignment for greater periods of time, with less cost, which is why they are so highly recommended by those with an understanding of organizational dynamics who are more able to step back and assess what is benefical for the long term.

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