Hands-off leadership is lazy leadership

Recently, I heard a top level leader describe his management style as “I hire great people then I get out of the way.” While this can be viewed in multiple ways, I would like to use this as an opportunity to say that hands-off leadership is lazy leadership, especially given the extremely high quantity of leaders who never received any sort of leadership training.

Here are the 5 reasons why I disagree with “getting out of the way.”

#1: Your employees need connection now more than ever. They want you to be involved – in the RIGHT way, not in a micromanager way.

#2: Don’t assume that your employees don’t want your involvement. Ask them how often they want to meet/connect. Don’t put it on them to always reach out. Take initiative to connect with them often and on a personal level as well.

#3: Millennials are the largest generation currently in the workforce. Younger generations want continuous feedback; they want to be engaged, challenged, and motivated. They want to be developed and they expect to learn new knowledge and skills. They want to be encouraged, mentored, and coached. This is YOUR responsibility as a leader.

#4: No matter what your style is, it should be flexed based on your employees because they have different needs, wants, and motivating factors.

#5: Often, I see leaders think it’s a great idea to throw something brand new at an employee and tell them to “run with it” while giving minimal information/resources and with the expectation that the employee approach them when they have questions.

While this type of challenge may work for some people, it may cause major anxiety in others. Your role as a leader is to develop and inspire your team, not to leave them feeling unsupported and hanging. They need to know you are there to coach them and that this isn’t a pass/fail judgment on if they can “take it and run with it.”