When we’re faced with leadership challenges that don’t seem to have a solution, it can be so easy to turn to a controlling or autocratic approach. Alternatively, some managers approach delegation with a completely laissez-faire style, believing the best way to delegate is to stay so hands off that they are completely out of the loop.
When Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein worked for The Washington Post, they experienced publisher Katharine Graham’s uniquely effective leadership. The very simple description they used for her management style was this: Hands off, mind on. I now talk about leadership as Hands off, mind in. Regardless of the language, here’s where it all comes from:
In Bob Woodward’s words:
“I was awed, supported and put on notice that she was engaged and knew the details of the stories down to the bookkeeping details of the secret Watergate cash slush fund. She wasn’t going to meddle, try to edit or second-guess, but she did, after all, want a better performance. Her skill was to raise the bar, gently but relentlessly. She did not tell us that The Post company’s TV station licenses were being challenged and that Watergate reporting could have killed the newspaper.
“It is true that Katharine Graham kept her hands off the news reporting and editing. But as important, she kept her mind on it-ferociously. As Watergate unfolded for the next 20 months, she kept us informed about what Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national security adviser, was saying. If a White House official called her, she took notes and sent them on immediately. She helped us analyze the motives and knowledge of various players.” (Washington Post, July 23, 2001)
Is your mind in?
How would your team describe your managerial style? Consider your leadership and the people you most want to influence. How interested are you in the passion that fuels their work? Be interested in their challenges, familiar with the obstacles they face and how they’ve tried to overcome those obstacles. This is how you should be using your regular 1:1 meetings with them. As their leader, your role is to serve as a brainstorming and analytical partner, not as the problem solver. Be so well-versed on how they have succeeded and failed that you could give someone else an update on their goals and progress without asking them for a special meeting. Be hungry for information that would support your people in achieving their goals, and make sure you are funneling that information to them
Are your hands off?
Considering the people on your team, when you learn about challenges, do you jump in to solve problems your people could probably solve themselves if they had the right resources? Delegate with ease rather than grudgingly. Trust their perspective to be informed and useful rather than insisting on decisions being made in accordance with your own perspective. Trust your people to meet their responsibilities, rather than doubting their abilities.
Perhaps you are the quality control officer for your team, but if that task is not explicitly required of you and yet you are doing it, consider that this might be only to meet your own needs for reassurance and significance rather than the needs of the organization.
You can give yourself a quick checkup with numbers to measure where you are right now by making a list of the ten people you spend most of your time with.
For each one, reflect on their likely experience of you and score yourself on a scale of 1-10 in answer to these two simple questions:
How much do they experience you as “mind in”? How much do they experience you as “hands off”?
Don’t focus on deficits, but look for opportunities for greater effectiveness. Create an experiment or two for yourself to try that can help to improve your ability to manage “hands off, mind in.”
Situational application
If you are facing a particular challenge, that’s a good time to ask how you can live this philosophy in practical ways. Based on this approach, here are a few ideas for situations where it could be applied:
Project management: When leading a project, a hands-off, mind-in approach can be effective in empowering team members to take ownership of their tasks while providing support and guidance as needed. By staying informed about the project’s progress and challenges, the leader can help identify roadblocks and brainstorm solutions without micromanaging the team.
Mentorship: When mentoring someone, it’s important to strike a balance between providing guidance and allowing the mentee to take ownership of their development. A hands-off, mind-in approach can help the mentee feel empowered and supported while still receiving valuable guidance and feedback from the mentor.
Crisis management: During a crisis, it’s easy to slip into an autocratic approach and take control of the situation. However, a hands-off, mind-in approach can be effective in empowering the team to take ownership of the crisis response while providing support and guidance as needed. By staying informed and engaged, the leader can help identify opportunities for improvement and course-correct as needed.
Overall, the hands-off, mind-in approach can be effective in a variety of leadership situations where empowering and supporting the team is critical to achieving success. Leaders who adopt this approach can build trust, foster collaboration, and achieve better outcomes for their teams and organizations.
What about you? Is there a situation you’re facing that feels insurmountable? How does “Mind in, hands off” challenge you to alter your approach? Take a few minutes to journal about your own situation and alternative approaches to handling it.
