Sticky Notes: Undermanagement Leads to Firefighting

The managers who are most convinced they don’t have time to deliver on the basics (providing guidance, feedback and next steps to their direct reports) spend more time managing than anyone else.

Managers cite lack of time as the #1 challenge for not regularly providing guidance, feedback, and next steps to their direct reports. The irony is that undermanagement is far more time-consuming than consistently delivering these leadership basics.

The managers who are most convinced they don’t have time to deliver on the basics spend more time managing than anyone else. That’s because undermanagement leads directly to unnecessary performance problems, requiring managers to disengage from their own work, step in, and firefight. Firefighting is a frequent indicator that undermanagement is causing the time drain a manager experiences.

Bruce Tulgan
Bruce Tulgan is a best-selling author and CEO of RainmakerThinking, the management research, consulting, and training firm he founded in 1993. All of his work is based on 27 years of intensive workplace interviews and has been featured in thousands of news stories around the world. His newest book, “The Art of Being Indispensable at Work: Win Influence, Beat Overcommitment, and Get the Right Things Done” ( Harvard Business Review Press) is available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all major booksellers. Follow Tulgan on Twitter @BruceTulgan or visit his Website at: rainmakerthinking.com.