Staying Out of the Weeds

Happy Thursday!  This month, we’re thinking differently about how to incorporate more fun into your experience as a tech leader.  Here’s what you need to know in tech in under 2 minutes…

What tech leaders should be thinking about this week:  How staying out of the weeds can create a more engaging (and fun) management experience.  I’ve found a ton of leaders forget a major benefit of their role – they get to set the work priorities and define success metrics. Often, tech leaders don’t stay out of the weeds enough and get too involved in the day-to-day operations across their team – leading to burn-out, replication of efforts, micro-managing, and (most importantly) limited fun for the leader.  Instead, tech leaders need to stay laser-focused on “managing by objective” – giving teams problems to solve and letting them come-up with creative solutions (with guidance along the way).This focus will allow good leaders to work on the fun stuff – customer/team partnerships, performance feedback, culture, future work/impact, competitive insights and emerging technology.

Why this is important:  Leaders who don’t create a fun workload for themselves will miss-out on a major benefit of their role.  I’ve seen managers who get too caught-up in the weeds experience burn-out, frustration, and a lack of advancement/promotion.Since leaders are human too, a focus on the best kind of work for themselves critical to everyone’s success. It also creates incentive for individual contributors – they see leaders delegating problems to solve and working on the(cool) stuff that will directly impact the future.

Where you’ll see impact:  Tech leaders and their teams will see the biggest impact when managers stay out of the weeds and lead by objective.  Although weird for managers to focus on most of the good stuff, they will create a more engaging (and fun) work experience for themselves. Day-to-day will feel less heavy. A direct connection to the future will become clearer.  Teams will also benefit from a leader who’s not micro-managing every day. They will feel empowered to solve problems creatively, be more innovative, and work more effectively with team across the organization.  Truly a win-win!

Value Add – Additional ways to show-up as a leader:  Since we’re just startingAugust, now is the perfect time to share some mindless / beach-fun recommendations for you to enjoy this month. Think stupid shows, funny podcasts, good movies, etc.  This week, I think you should check-out the latest album released by the Jonas Brothers called “Greetings From YourHometown.” It’s perfectly light, fun, and easy – a great background to the BBQ, pool or beach!  Check it out wherever you get your music.  Enjoy!

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Here’s to your Engaged Pursuit!