Avoiding Micromanagement, Maintaining Boundaries, and Managing Diverse Teams [Office Hours #013]

Your questions. Answered.

👋 Welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only edition 🔒 of our Office Hours newsletter. Every Tuesday, we tackle reader questions covering the most demanding challenges of management and leadership. (We share our best free content on LinkedIn).

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In this week's edition, we answer:

1. How do you motivate a team that’s underperforming without resorting to micromanagement?

2. How do you balance being a supportive leader while still maintaining professional boundaries?

3. How do you manage a team where some members are highly experienced and others are more junior?

Let’s get started…

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Question 1:

James from San Francisco
How do you motivate a team that’s underperforming without resorting to micromanagement?

Response:
Dear James,

Motivating an underperforming team is one of the most delicate challenges in leadership. If you push too hard, you risk creating resentment or burnout. If you take a hands-off approach, performance issues will likely persist. The key is to address the root causes of underperformance while creating a culture of accountability and motivation.