Ms. Cooper

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

Do Your Staff Need Constant Direction? – Tips on Balancing Freedom and Control

By Caroline Cooper, President, Zeal Coaching

Just how do you maintain that balance between freedom and control, and still get the job done to the standard you expect?

On the one hand you can’t afford to supervise your team the whole time, but on the other you are concerned that if you don’t, they’ll be things that get missed.

Have you ever noticed when you are away for a day or two, or even a few hours, your team seem to be able to solve their own problems? Having to deal with every question or every problem your staff face can be draining for you and does little to develop your team.

Conversely abdicating responsibility and leaving your team totally to their own devices can be equally daunting and inherent with risks. When you own the business or have high stakes in it, it can sometimes be difficult to let others get on with things.

So just how do you strike the balance?

Recognise the benefits

Getting your staff to a level where they can work unsupervised will certainly enable you to make more effective use of your time. It can also lead to staff adopting their own approach and often find more effective ways of doing things. It may also initiate new ideas which can help to develop the business. All this whilst you are free to get on with more strategic activities.

Giving your staff authority to deal with guest requests, complaints and unplanned situations enables staff to resolve issues quickly and with minimum fuss. Great for the guest and less effort in the long run if staff don’t need to find you or a manager. Telling a guest you don’t have the authority to deal with an issue is both frustrating for the guest and degrading for the team member.

There will naturally be situations where a manager’s input may be required, but by aiming to keep those to a minimum will lead to a smoother operation. So make provision for any one of the team to deal with the most common issues, questions or complaints.

Giving your staff freedom demonstrates your trust in them, and makes them feel valued. It builds confidence and helps their personal development, and ultimately gives them pride in what they do, as long as they get feedback on their performance.

Skill/Will

The skill is in knowing when to let go of the day to day issues and put your trust in someone else to get on with things.

Start by assessing capabilities and motivation for the task. This can be reflected in the Skill / Will matrix below, which takes into account the two dimensions. On the one axis we take account of someone’s capabilities, knowledge or skill level. Have they had all the necessary training and demonstrated that that they can complete the task in hand competently. Even someone with little experience in a particular role or task may still have the knowledge to understand what is required (e.g. how to deal with customers will be from someone's own experience of being on the receiving end of customer service).

Note here I mention ‘demonstrated’; don’t just assume that someone should be capable or that they can do it to your standard just because they’ve told you they understand. Look for the evidence.

Even if someone is capable it does not necessarily mean they will get on with the task in hand unsupervised. If the enthusiasm and motivation is not there even the most skilled individual sometimes needs an element of supervision.

The second axis takes into account this level of willingness. Be aware that people may creep across from right to left on this axis. If you abdicate to your star performers without adequate recognition and variety, it’s easy to get disillusioned and over time become a problem child. If you see a member of your team moving from being a star performer to a problem child nip this in the bud and identify why. Is your level of direction the cause of the problem?

The degree of freedom you allow will increase the nearer people are to the top right hand corner. However recognise that individual employees will sit in different boxes on different tasks. Someone who is a star performer in some areas, may lack motivation in others, and may be taking on new tasks from time to time which can put them in either of the two bottom quadrants. Equally someone who is an under achiever in some tasks may still sit in any one of the other boxes for other tasks.

When you know the employee has the appropriate skills, experience or knowledge to work things out for themselves (even if they don’t have the willingness to do so) adopt a coaching style. This means enabling the employee to come up with their own solutions and answers to questions and challenges. This leads to increased awareness, builds confidence and develops the employee, as well as creating buy in.

We can also back off from being too directive or controlling when there is a degree of flexibility in the way something can be approached (even if the end result is not negotiable, such as legal requirements or demanding targets). This non directive approach also works well when there is reduced risk, or at least an opportunity to monitor or correct things before putting anything at risk; a useful approach for those who sit in the apprentice quadrant.

Inevitably such an approach takes a little longer, to allow time for the employee to think or talk it through. Most often speed is given as a reason not to use a non directive appraoch. "We need to make a decision on this now; we can't keep the customer waiting." In this instance use a non directive approach initially, then go back after the event and discuss with the employee what they would do in similar circumstances to resolve the problem. This way they are better prepared for the next occasion.

Clearly if you are someone's line manager they will have an expectation to get guidance from you on how they should do their job, but to get their buy in and to develop them put some of the onus on them to come up with their own ideas and solutions as often as possible.

Learn to let go

Feeling confident in your team to get on with tasks without your direction can make you uneasy. But it needs a gradual approach – you wouldn’t throw your child in the deep end of the swimming pool and hope he or she could swim; you’d support them, and then keep an eye on them until you were sure they were safe.

But it’s easy to make excuses for not letting go. Have you ever caught yourself using any of these 'excuses'?

• “They aren’t yet up to it”
  And never will be unless you start trusting people.

• “No-one, except me, is up to it"
  Maybe, but are you being too much of a perfectionist? Does the task need such a degree of excellence?

• “People don’t have the same standards as me; I constantly need to check”
  If everyone fully understands your expectations and why they are important they are far more likely to achieve the standards you expect.

• “If it goes wrong it will look bad on me”
  You’ll lose more control and more respect by not devoting enough time to managing the whole business effectively because you are too wrapped up in the detail.

Set your expectations

Communicate what's expected. Set standards so that people can measure their own performance. Focus on telling people what you want to achieve, i.e. the end result, the standards required, when it needs to be done by, and how this fits in with the bigger picture, rather than dictating how to do it. This gives people flexibility to adopt their own style and you'll be surprised how often they end up improving the process. Lead by example so there are no mixed messages. And make sure you provide the appropriate tools, resources and training to do the job effectively.

If you and your management team are approachable and you recognise that people still need support, your team won’t feel so shy about asking for help when it’s needed. Still keep an eye out for the warning signs too to see when people need help; not everyone will be confident enough to ask for help. Consult staff and listen to their ideas; they may be able to offer better ways of doing things.

Then trust people to get on with things, without breathing down their neck the whole time. This will show your faith in them and allow them the freedom to find their own way of doing things.

Give feedback

People will not become great at their jobs unless they know where they are doing well, so they can keep on doing these things, and where they need to change to get a better result.

Although with the right guidelines staff should be able to recognise for themselves when they are doing a good job, what they won’t necessarily be able to assess for themselves is why some things work, and others don’t always end up with the result they are looking for. Your feedback should home in on what they did, the impact it has and how to develop to make continual improvements.

And even when things have gone well, recognise and rewarded performance and achievements, with constructive feedback on what have they done well and how it has contributed

Giving your staff a sense of responsibility, will lead to them taking more initiative in other areas. It means you don’t have to keep an eye on things 24/7, in the confident knowledge that things will still get done and enable you to strike the right balance between freedom and control.

Caroline Cooper is a business coach with over 25 years’ experience in business and leadership development, and founder of Zeal Coaching, specializing in working with hospitality businesses, and is author of the 'Hotel Success Handbook'.

Caroline Cooper is a business and leadership coach working with hospitality business leaders and owners to enhance business, personal and team performance and effectiveness, with a strong emphasis on the bottom line results. She founded Zeal Coaching in 2004, and now works with a cross section of hospitality businesses. She is a published author of the 'Hotel Success Handbook', on practical sales and marketing for small hotels. During her career Ms. Cooper has provided leadership development and consultancy to a broad range of industries, ranging from FTSE 100 corporate clients, charities, local government and small businesses. Ms. Cooper can be contacted at +44 (0)7887 540914 or caroline@zealcoaching.com Extended Bio...

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