Many supporting pastors at churches (i.e. youth pastors, small-group pastors, worship pastors, children’s pastors, etc.) get discouraged by their senior pastor’s micromanagement.
Some people like to be micromanaged because they don’t want to be accused of thinking too far outside the box or pushing the limits. So micromanagement fits them because someone comes alongside them and tells them what to do every step of the way.
However, leaders don’t like to be micromanaged … in fact, they hate it.
Most people who are hired to work on a church staff are leaders (meaning true leaders; not just those who are given the title “leader,” but those who actually have a gift for leadership). Checking up on every detail in a true leader’s work life feels to them like a lack of trust.
Leaders never thrive in an environment where there is a lack of trust.
The bottom line for micro managers is this: Stop it!!
You are sucking the joy out of the people you are leading. When their work is not a joy, they will eventually no longer want to work for you.
Micromanagers ensure that their organization will have a revolving door with staff going in and out all the time.
Okay, let’s shift gears; my intent for today’s post is to address something that should never be mixed up or confused with micromanagement, and that’s MACROmanagement.
What do I mean?
Macromanagement is vision. It is setting the course from 30,000 feet, pointing the direction, determining the strategy, getting the team excited, and letting them run to fulfill the vision!
There are two tragic mistakes in organizational life where macromanagement is concerned.
The first tragedy is when there is no macromanagement.
Vision is the fuel for your organization and for those you lead. Vision excites them, motivates them, inspires them, makes them want to try harder and, ultimately, creates a stronger work ethic.
The second tragic mistake regarding macromanagement is when macromanagement and micromanagement are confused with one another.
They are sometimes confused because they both get results. However, they do it in very different ways: Micromanagement gets results by lighting a fire under people’s butts, but macromanagement gets results by lighting a fire in people’s hearts!
