Bulldozer managers?

People talk about bulldozer parents, sometimes called “helicopter parents,” who knock down all road blocks for their kids, making them weak and incapable of dealing with issues themselves. Praising inappropriately and not correcting behaviors. A good parent, or manager, must see what is a potential roadblock and prepare their team to deal with it, not deal with it for them because if a manager does, it becomes their job all the time. 

Align your team with their immediate responsibilities whether it is that specific customer or that day. Make sure they have the tools, the training and the time to be successful. Give them the guidance to do what is needed then turn them loose with the authority to act in the best interest of the company and the customer. 

Align your people managers with the timeline they should be managing to.  Likely that is going to be the week or even the month. They should be making sure that each of their direct reports has what they need to be successful. A leader must set the people manager’s priorities while also making sure they have the tools they need to be successful in managing their direct reports. This may mean technical coaching, leadership skills, and certainly includes a vision of where the business means to go. 

Leaders need to be looking out to the quarter, the year or, for an established business, a multi year timeline. By thinking out into the future and then articulating the goals that the leader has chosen to pursue, this will allow people to get on board, not just with the job they are doing day to day, but also with the leader’s vision. As a leader, you are not a bulldozer parent, you are simply aligning your team with the most effective priorities for them to focus on while clearing longer term issues from their agenda so they can succeed. Some items are outside the scope of front line employees and that is the realm of the operational leader.

This is a philosophy of management. Clear a path, provide the tools and support, look into the future to anticipate roadblocks. As a leader, you  must stay connected with your team so that you can start working on the problems that are coming, not the ones in front of your team right now. If your team is well prepared and motivated, they will deal with the immediate issues. 

Thank you for reading, I look forward to supporting you in any way I can. Drop me a note on LinkedIn, at my email address stratton@downeaststratmc.com or forward my intro blog to a friend. It provides tips and explores management principles.