🤔 When micromanagement makes sense
Hello! Adam Thornhill here. ‘The Podcast Guy’ saving you 10 hours a week.
Enjoy the 75th Podup with the best bits from the a16z Podcast.
Not enough is written about executive onboarding. Given it can make or break your company, I’m going to share why Ben Horowitz advocates for a high-touch approach. In this episode, Ben and Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, share their experiences and strategies to build strong, high-performing teams right from the start.
High-touch onboarding
If I have a new executive, I call them every day. Do we have a scheduled time to talk? No. I just call them. I just shoot the shit. I don't have an agenda.
We get to know each other so we can build trust and share context. After a couple of months, you feel much more like you know this person. You know how they think. You know their weaknesses and strengths.
Ali Ghodsi
Help new hires shine
Marc Andreessen calls this approach micromanagement. I call it training. This daily conversation is essential. Point them to where there's a fire that needs putting out. Everyone will consider them a hero. It gets them off to the right start. You want them to get a big win in their first 2-4 weeks.
Ben Horowitz
Why context is king
New executives may know their function better than you, but they don't know your business better than you. Nobody does. Without the right context, they'll work on the wrong thing. Once the team sees this and thinks they're not good, that's it. It's over. You have to guard against this by giving them context.
Ben Horowitz
Why it matters
This high-touch approach fosters trust and gives new hires the context they need to excel in their roles. When a new hire joins, it's way better to over-communicate than under-communicate.
Onboarding is probably the only time where a 'micromanagement' approach is acceptable. Daily calls help new executives to align their efforts with the company's goals and prevents them from prioritizing the wrong things based on their past experiences.
Next steps
If you're onboarding a new executive soon:
Encourage casual conversations to build trust and share context
Guide new hires towards areas where they can make an immediate impact and gain early wins
Regularly provide context and feedback to align their role with your company's unique needs and goals
If hiring isn't on the horizon, reflect on your current team:
Does everyone have the necessary context to excel in their roles?
If not, admit this oversight and commit to daily interactions for the next week to address it
If yes, build on this further by developing a culture of writing that encourages the broad internal sharing of knowledge and ideas
Your thoughts?
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Quotes were pulled at different points of the episode. Sentences were left out to make the narrative more concise. Podup is not associated or affiliated with any podcast.