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Nor is it something that leaders should do only once a year, at the strategy offsite or at the start of the strategic planning round. And is it not something that can be delegated or outsourced. Making time for such macro questions is not a luxury -В it is a necessity.

Seeing the bigger picture example series#

You and Your Team Series Thinking Strategically

Seeing the bigger picture example license#

Equally, the less keen and the less motivated on the payroll take this lack of prescription by leaders as license to do what they want (and perhaps what they were already doing), which, of course, may be diametrically opposed to what the leaders had in mind. And because they want to do that, they find this lack of prescription stressful -В and a huge constraint on them acting in an empowered way. If leaders arenвЂ™t providing clarity and certainty about these critical macro questions, then the best, most motivated employees flail in their so-called freedom because they canвЂ™t be sure they are doing what leaders want or are using their time and resources in the best way possible. And these things are precisely theВ macro questions of why the organization exists, what it will deliver, and how it will behave. Ironically, in order to truly empower employees, leaders need to be prescriptive, at least about certain things. But, as my own research shows, in order to be meaningful, empowerment requires some boundaries, some rules that have been decided on within which empowerment can be exercised. I agree with the third point: Empowerment is critical. We have been told that participative leadership, rather than prescriptive leadership, is what we should aim for that organizations should be agile, with вЂњchange the only constantвЂќ and that empowerment is critical for employee satisfaction and long-term value. For the past 30В years, the literature on leadership and empowerment has advised leaders not to be too prescriptive about these questions, lest they undermine employee empowerment. Lack of Time IsnвЂ™t the Only Reason Leaders Ignore These QuestionsДЄ lack of time, too many so-called вЂњpriorities,вЂќ and the gnawing presence of the urgent masquerading as the important are usually quoted as the main reasons why leadersвЂ™ answers to these macro questions arenвЂ™t clear enough.Д«ut I suspect an even more fundamental reason is at play here. But I know lots of leaders who donвЂ™t spend enough time answering them, and even more who donвЂ™t answer them with sufficient clarity so their people can then get on with delivering the answers. I donвЂ™t know many leaders who would say they donвЂ™t think these questions are important. how the people within the organization will behave -В toward customers, other stakeholders, and each other.

what this produces for the business and for shareholders -В the critical outcome metrics by which the organization will be judged.what it offers (and does not offer) its customers, and how and why this offer delivers value to these customers.why the organization exists and what its purpose is.So, what are these big strategic questions that leaders arenвЂ™t spending enough time on or arenвЂ™t answering in a sufficiently clear or disciplined way? They are questions about: Time and effort spent on macromanagement enables leaders to be as clear, decisive, and disciplined at the macro level -В on the big strategic questions the organization is facing -В as their managers are at the micro level, i.e., about how these decisions might be implemented. Although there are different definitions of this term floating around, when I talk with executives, I use it to mean managing the big issues rather than the small ones. The main upside is that leaders have more time to spend on what we call macromanagement.

But while we understand the downsides of micromanaging and taken action to avoid it, we still havenвЂ™t sufficiently embraced the upsides of not micromanaging. Every leader knows that they shouldnвЂ™t micromanage - even if some of us still do.