In 1980 I got sent on a project management course. It was a residential course in a really nice seaside hotel in the south of England. I can’t remember if the course was a week or two weeks long. Anyway, however long it was, it felt much longer! We worked days, evenings and nights on a really stupid case study from which we learned (and I remember) absolutely nothing. (In fairness, I should also add that while the course was rubbish, the food in the hotel was really rather good.)

On the last afternoon of the last day – a Friday – we were there in the room, bags packed, ready to catch trains and planes, when one of the two instructors started to talk about managing people. What he said in the next hour gave me one of the biggest light bulb moments of my career.

What follows here is the gist of what he said along with some of my own experience grafted on to it. There are really only two points I want to make.

One size doesn’t fit everybody

It’s true to say that each of us, depending on our personality, has what could be called our ‘natural’ management style. Some people are very hands off. ‘There’s no point in having a dog’, the saying goes, ‘and barking yourself’. In other words, if somebody has a job to do let them get on with it and trust that they will do it properly. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, there are people who are very hands-on. Only by micromanaging everything do they feel that they’re in control and can be sure that things are on track. Control freaks.

Which is right? The former sounds like a nice regime to work under – the person being managed can use their own initiative and creativity – but it sounds like things could go a long way wrong here before they were spotted. The latter regime sounds a lot more safe and secure, but it also sounds like it could be a giant pain to work under (or indeed to have to apply) such a regime.

The answer, of course, is that one size doesn’t fit everybody and that no matter what your personality causes you to do ‘naturally’, you’re going to have to be a bit more versatile when it comes to managing people.

• Where the evidence is that when you give them a job, it gets done, then leave them alone and let them get on with it. This is true even if your natural style is to micromanage. This will only be counterproductive here. ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ – and it isn’t broke here. And the key, of course, is evidence. The facts. This isn’t about whether you like somebody or think they’re smelly or would loan them 20 quid. It’s all based on facts. When you give them a job, it gets done. Or not.
• Where:
  • somebody doesn’t report to you – somebody in another group or department or organization; or
  • is inexperienced; or
  • you’re unsure about their ability;

  then you need to stay on their case a bit (or a lot) more. This is where micromanagement is good and hands-off would be very bad – again, irrespective of what your personality drives you to do.

What we ought to do versus our natural tendency

Good management means we spend our management time where it will make the most difference. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it is one end of the spectrum; the other is where things are very broke and where most of the foul-ups and firefighting will occur. So we should spend most of our time on the ‘broke’ end of the spectrum.

I think for most people, including myself, our natural tendency is to do the opposite of that. Here’s why.

What do we want from work? Yes, we want to earn some money, we want it to be interesting, we’d like to be with nice people but, in a nutshell, we want to have some fun. We’re going to spend a large proportion of our life in work. It can’t be a vale of tears all the time. And the ‘ain’t broke’ end of the spectrum is fun. You spend the week at this end of the spectrum and when you go home on Friday you’ll be whistling. You’ll be saying, ‘I made a great decision coming to work here. Interesting work. Great people. I can’t believe it’s Friday already. I wish it wasn’t the weekend’. (Well okay – maybe not quite that!)

Now imagine you spend a week at the broke end of the spectrum. You’ll go home and you’ll kick the cat. Because over here is foul-ups, screw-ups, difficult conversations, getting your ass chewed off, embarrassment, having to eat humble pie and so on. We want this like we want a hole in the head.

And so, as human beings who just want to be happy, we have a tendency to gravitate towards the ‘ain’t broke’ end of the spectrum. We’d much rather hang out with the good guys.

Even though I’m aware of it, I have this tendency myself to this day. Here’s how it works for me.

On Monday I’ll sort out any problem for you. I’m firmly at the broke end of the spectrum.

By Wednesday I’m drifting a bit. There’ll be some problem or issue and I’ll find myself saying things like, ‘Ah, maybe it’s not as serious as all that’ or ‘I might just leave it a few more days and see if it sorts itself out’.

And by Friday afternoon, I’m firmly in ‘girls just want to have fun’ mode. Don’t ask me to deal with difficult issues on Friday afternoon because I won’t be a happy bunny.

And I suspect I’m not alone in this.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have a bit of fun at work. I’m not saying we shouldn’t socialize or hang out with the good guys.

But be clear what you’re doing. You’re socializing. You’re hanging out. On the ‘ain’t broke’ end of the spectrum, they don’t need management – or at least not much of it. Over on the other end of the spectrum is where most of your management time needs to go and be spent.

This is the key thing I learned about managing people – that our natural tendency is almost the exact opposite of what we should be doing. It was a profound eye-opener and a lifelong lesson for me.