What You'll Discover In This Episode:
I gotta tell you… I have personal experience with what I like to call laissez-faire leadership which is basically uninvolved, hands-off leadership.
When I was in college, I was an office manager for a real estate team who happened to be a couple. They had been in business for a very long time and by all standards they were very successful. When I came in, I started as an assistant and then moved up to office manager. They kept adding to my responsibilities because of my skillsets and learning capability which eventually created a dysfunctional relationship.
They had become so hands-off that I found myself sitting at the edge of their bed at their home to update them about their own business and transactions because they no longer came into the office. I begged them for input in decisions and to gain a better understanding of what was going on. I started each day off with a big, old stack of file folders, reviewing transactions, and talking to them about their business.
You might think it sounds amazing to have an office manager that was so capable of handling the needs of the business but in reality, the owners were losing control of their business. I was more invested in it than they were. I knew the procedures, the clients, and the necessary administrative tasks while they didn't so when I finally left, it was very detrimental to their business. They were lost without me and were forced to close their business shortly after. That is not a place you want to wind up so if you are more of a hands-off leader, this episode is for you!
In Part 1 of my larger three-part Work Review Extremes Series, we discussed the general problem of micromanagement which can be a challenging leadership struggle to overcome.
In today's Part 2 episode of my Work Review Extremes Series, I dive into what drives laissez-faire leadership - especially when it comes to work review - when to use minimal oversight, and what to do if you’ve crossed the line into problematic neglect.