Here is an excerpt from an article written by Cy Wakeman for Talent Management magazine. To check out all the resources and sign up for a free subscription to the TM and/or Chief Learning Officer magazines published by MediaTec, please click here.

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Talent leaders should focus less on micromanaging the daily activities of their talent and work more on building their capabilities. Here are tips to help.

Talent leaders tend to respond to challenging times by over-managing and under-leading. Too many leaders hide behind their proficiency at logistics, budgeting and cost cutting — the small picture — and hope that somehow the overall vision — the big picture — will fall into place.

How does over-managing and under-leading manifest itself in the workplace? 


• Say talent leaders are interrupted every 20 minutes with questions that employees could answer themselves with a little bit of effort. If they drop everything and answer them, they are managing, not leading.

• If leaders aren’t able to go on vacation without fielding emergency calls from the office, that’s another sign they are over-managing the team.

These are situations in which people come to talent leaders with problems they expect them to solve. Often, a leader’s first impulse might be to perfect the employee’s circumstances by solving their problems. However, the best way forward is to use their energy to encourage their people to be more capable so they can impact their own reality.

Management works to change others’ circumstances. Leadership changes their mindsets so they can see their circumstances differently and find ways to impact their reality.

When in doubt, lead first, manage second. Here’s how:

[Wakeman offers six specific suggestions. Here are the first two. To read the complete article, please click here.]

Resist the urge to add more value. The best way for talent leaders to build confidence in people is to show confidence in their talent and critical thinking, and to engage them in discussions on what they can do to add value.

Focusing on the person, not the problem, is key. Leaders can help employees see themselves as the authors of solutions, instead of running to a leader every time. Once they realize that a leader’s response will not be to take the ball and run with it, but rather to bounce it right back to them, they will start looking for solutions on their own.

Coach the person in front of you. Many employees approach talent leaders with the intention of tattling on others or reporting issues they view out of their own control. Engaging in such complaints will lead to a fruitless, energy-draining conversation.

Talent leaders should focus less on micromanaging the daily activities of their talent and work more on building their capabilities.

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Cy Wakeman is a dynamic, well-respected national keynote speaker, workshop facilitator and trainer who helps individuals and organizations recreate their mindsets so they can achieve results beyond their wildest dreams. Her unique programs help to develop and build successful leaders and teams. Her approach is unconventional, candid, and entertaining. Based on her hard-hitting philosophy, Cy has helped many groups and organizations break through
their reasons, stories and excuses to develop innovative
solutions to long-standing issues. Her latest book is Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses into Results, published by Jossey-Bass (2010).