Responsiveness can be measured in minutes, not hours, with a Blackberry on call 24x7. But for leaders, such instant response comes with a high cost.

Are you a leader who…

…finds your department a mess every time you return from vacation?

…has to be constantly available for things to keep running smoothly?

…can’t find two uninterrupted hours in a week, much less a day?

Technology is a wonderful thing. Information that only a few years ago would have taken us weeks, or even months, to obtain is now available at our fingertips. The Six Degrees of Separation now feels more like three as we connect day and night through Web networks. Need an answer? Get one now!

The cost is not obvious at first and sneaks up on you over time. Leaders are focused on getting the job done so when their people need an answer or hit a roadblock, a responsive leader will jump in with a solution, provide needed information, or run interference to keep things moving. This is a great tactical strategy in the short run and certainly gets the job done. But the long-term effect is a team that is dependent on their leader for answers, without a strong problem-solving ability of their own. A highly responsive leader creates a highly dependent team without even realizing it.

The second cost is to the leaders themselves. Although it is gratifying to feel needed and be the central hub of the team, once the team becomes dependent on responsive leadership, the leader becomes buried in tactical activity, unnecessary meetings and email overload. Their ability to be strategic contributors diminishes in direct proportion to their tactical responsiveness. Highly responsive leaders are rarely considered for promotion beyond 2nd-level leadership. They are seen as bogged down in the detail and not managing to the bigger picture.

The shift is in conscientiously deciding what deserves your responsiveness and what deserves leadership Tough Love.

Steps to shift to Conscientious Responsiveness:

First, find a new way to measure your leadership value

• Is being needed or visibly in demand how you measure your success as a leader?
• Do you need to always know what is going on to feel in control?
• What does being highly responsive prevent you from achieving? What could you achieve if you were not constantly on call?

Second, determine what causes your team to need frequent assistance

• Have you set the expectation that they always come to you first?
• Are they missing some key skill sets? Contacts? Tools?
• Are you their first point of contact because you are so responsive?

Third, create new expectations for responsiveness

• What really deserves a conscientious response from you? What level of crisis is a valuable use of your time and ability?
• What does your team need to solve the remaining problems without your intervention?
• What new expectations do you need to set with them?
• What new behaviors do you need to adopt to support this change?
• How will you respond to requests in the future? (hint: provide resources, not answers; use questions, not statements)

Masterful leaders know when to lead and when to let others lead themselves. So add Conscientious Responsiveness to your leadership toolkit today!

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." ~ Chinese proverb

Resources

Article on 8 ways micro-managers can cure themselves.

University of Alabama offers methods and guidelines on delegating responsibility.