The most common factor causing unhappiness in companies and how to fix it.
I’ve worked with many companies that are keen to improve team happiness, and one area of improvement comes up far more frequently than any other.
Before I start, I want to point out that the companies I work with tend to be good places to work already. Organisations don’t hire a consultant to improve team happiness unless they genuinely care about their employees’ wellbeing. As a result, I rarely speak to employees who feel underpaid or unsafe at work. My clients generally have the basics well covered, yet there’s still one area where many leaders struggle.
The perfect company?
Recently, I’ve been working with a company of over 100 people that prides itself on giving its team control over their work. During onboarding, new hires are told they will be “on their own” once they start and are expected to be “self-sufficient.” In theory, this sounds great—the leaders are demonstrating trust in their hiring process by giving new employees autonomy from day one. However, once I dug deeper and spoke to the employees, it wasn’t quite as rosy as it seemed.
Autonomy and happiness at work
One of the key drivers of workplace happiness is the feeling that you have control over your work—that you have autonomy. This can mean control over your schedule, location, or how you approach your tasks. If you feel micromanaged, it can seriously affect your happiness at work.
Pre-approval
To give employees more autonomy, many workplace happiness experts advocate for a “pre-approval” system. Instead of micromanaging their teams, leaders empower employees by setting predefined objectives and boundaries, giving them the freedom to execute tasks as they see fit, without fear of being criticised for any decisions they make. For instance, at Timpson, all store managers can spend £500 to resolve a customer complaint without seeking approval. (If you’re interested in pre-approval, you can read my article on how Timpson and the Navy SEALs approach it.) The idea is that when employees are trusted to make decisions, and are free from the fear of being criticised if things don’t go to plan, they’re more likely to reach their full potential.
Micromanagement - caring or stifling?
The leader I was working with believed he was empowering his team by not explicitly explaining how to complete tasks. However, he still checked everything his team did, questioned every decision, and required approval for most actions. As a result, while the team were left to their own devices much of the time, they never felt the work was truly theirs. Additionally, since approval was needed for even minor decisions, work often stalled, and the team became terrified of making mistakes.
The leader had good intentions. He felt he needed to check everything to prevent his team from making mistakes and he needed to question every choice to ensure the right decisions were made. His micromanagement came from a place of care—he genuinely wanted to protect his team from failure. Unfortunately, this well-meaning approach ended up stifling progress, hindering innovation, and ultimately demoralising the very team he aimed to help succeed.
The solution was simple.
How to empower your team without losing control
This manager is a very busy person, always in meetings, so we needed a solution that would fit into his workflow—something quick and easy that wouldn’t add any extra burden to his day.
Previously, the manager would assign a task and then continuously check to ensure it was being done correctly (i.e., how he would do it). Any deviation required his approval. This was both mentally draining for him and took up a huge amount of time.
Now, he explains what success looks like and sets clear boundaries for how the work can be done. He then trusts the team to execute the task in the best way they can.
He does this by just saying what would make him happy.
So instead of saying “please do task x” he says “please do task x” and then explains his expectations and his boundaries using “I will be happy …
“I will be happy if…” and “I will be very happy if…”
And, if necessary, he adds: “I won’t be happy if…” (to add in any boundaries)
Then, the he steps back and lets the team work. Importantly, he tells them he’s available for support if needed (so they don’t feel abandoned) but he won’t interfere unless asked.
An example he used was:
Please organise a team building day
I will be happy if the team are excited to come to it
I will be really happy if it helps improve their performance
I won’t be happy if people feel uncomfortable participating or it costs me more than x.
The team then asked lots of follow up questions but just with these guidelines they knew what success looked like to him and their boundaries.
A few months after implementing this approach, I asked the leader how he felt. He admitted that at first, he had found it hard to let go—he didn’t like not having control. He said his team didn’t always do things the way he would have, and he struggled with watching them make mistakes.
However…
His team succeeded in areas where he hadn’t been able to, they’d come up with some really innovative ideas, he felt less stressed, had more time, and, most importantly, he knew his employees were much happier. He has no intention of going back to the old ways.
Tip of the Week:
If you’re a leader struggling to let go, start small.
Choose a little task and, instead of just explaining what you want them to do, explain what you want to achieve.
However … be very, very clear about your expectations—clarity is another key driver of workplace happiness. “I will be happy if …” is a great structure to start with.
Further reading
HBR - How to Help (Without Micromanaging)
Next week … working from home, returning to the office or hybrid - which will make you happier?
