Being a boss is hard, if you let it be.  It’s also easy, if you let it be.  Autonomy makes the difference.

As a manager of managers, you have a choice: take on the responsibilities of your team, increasing your own workload; or trust them to do their work, even delegating some of your own.  For me, the choice is always clear.

As a leader, I hire and train my team to be highly autonomous leaders and subject matter experts.  They own their areas of responsibility, are able to work with their team and business partners to execute the work required, and have day-to-day authority over their team and their work.  They typically do not need anything from me in order to perform their daily tasks.

The fundamentals I always communicate to my direct reports:

• They run their team, not me.
• I will always make time for them, but I will assume they can handle a situation unless they ask for help.
• I expect them to escalate problems often, and quickly.  Awareness protects everyone.

This approach has all kinds of benefits.  It free’s me up to do other things – my own work, including future-focused work. The company gets the benefit of their subject-matter expertise, which is exactly what it’s paying them for. It keeps them engaged, and gives them the runway they need to succeed.  In fact, it’s proven that autonomy in the workplace increases employee satisfaction.

So what exactly is your job as a manager then?  Your job is to be a leader; a mentor more than a manager.  Your role is to provide guidance when appropriate, offer feedback when necessary, and make your available to support your reports.  Your focus should typically be on their development, the development of their team, and the improvement of processes for cross-functional collaboration.  Try to let your managers address higher-ups directly – be a filter for their ideas, instead of a funnel for their communication.  

Defining this mode of working up front is also important.  Addressing the appropriate level of autonomy is an important part of setting expectations for your team, and will ensure everyone’s clear from day one. For myself, I will seldom get into the day-to-day operations unless I am asked to, or I believe it’s needed. I find that the less involved I get, the less involved I need to be.