Our Head of Operations has successfully managed our logistics for years, but as we scale, her natural conative style of needing extreme detail is causing her to micromanage her team to the point of paralysis. How do we help her scale her leadership style to match our growth?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your Head of Operations is likely a very high Fact Finder and Follow Thru on the Kolbe A Index. In the early days of the business, her natural drive to gather every detail and build rigid procedures was a massive asset. But as you double in size, that same instinct is causing her to hit her ceiling. She is trying to manage through brute-force inspection rather than delegation and leadership. To help her scale, you must refocus her on LMA™, which stands for Leading, Managing, and Accountability. Use the Accountability Chart to clearly define the boundary between her seat and her direct reports. She needs to transition from doing the work and checking every detail to leading her people. Introduce the Kolbe framework to her. Help her realize that her natural instinct to gather details is her strength, but she cannot demand that her team work exactly like she does. She must learn to manage to outcomes, not to activities. Use your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ and your Scorecard to establish clear, measurable metrics for her team. Once she has a high-quality Scorecard in place, she can monitor performance at a glance without micromanaging the daily tasks. If she can trust the numbers on the Scorecard, she can step back and allow her team to solve their own issues. If she refuses to let go of the vine and continues to choke her team's progress, she no longer GWC™s the seat at this scale. You must then make the hard decision to move her to a technical role that matches her strengths and bring in a leader who can manage people.