Confessions of a recovering micromanager | Chieh Huang

Summary

El orador comparte sus experiencias y aprendizajes como microgerente en los últimos años. Define el micromanejo como la pérdida de autonomía y la destrucción de la creatividad de los empleados, ejemplificada con la elección de fuentes y tamaños de letra. Presenta un estudio que muestra que la falta de control en el trabajo es más cansada que el trabajo en sí. Argumenta que el micromanejo no es eficaz y plantea que no se buscan empleados poco creativos, sino que se llega a este comportamiento por un miedo a perder el control. Finalmente, destaca la importancia de la confianza en el equipo y cómo al permitir la falla y la creatividad, se pueden alcanzar soluciones innovadoras y exitosas.

Takeaways

• 😀 La micromanagement puede destruir la creatividad y el entusiasmo de los empleados al enfocarse en detalles insignificantes, como el tamaño de la fuente.
• 😊 Los empleados que son micromanejados tienden a sentirse más fatigados, no por la cantidad de trabajo, sino por la falta de control sobre sus tareas.
• 😉 La mayoría de los gerentes (94%) no desean contratar personas aburridas y sin imaginación, aunque sus acciones a veces indiquen lo contrario.
• 😁 La transición de hacer el trabajo a gestionar personas puede llevar a la tentación de micromanejar, debido a la pérdida de control sobre el resultado final.
• 😂 La experiencia personal del CEO de Boxed muestra cómo el micromanagement puede surgir incluso con buenas intenciones, como al tratar de mantener un estándar específico en notas de agradecimiento a los clientes.
• 😅 Permitir a los empleados autonomía puede llevar a resultados sorprendentes y creativos, como notas personalizadas y obras de arte en las órdenes.
• 😆 La micromanagement puede resultar en que los empleados se sientan frustrados y recurran a recursos humanos para quejarse.
• 😎 La confianza en los empleados puede dar lugar a innovaciones significativas, como la creación de un vehículo guiado autónomo para el centro de cumplimiento.
• 😇 Proyectos impulsados por empleados, como la campaña contra el 'impuesto rosa', pueden tener un impacto positivo significativo sin intervención directa de la alta gerencia.
• 🤔 La única solución efectiva para el micromanagement es confiar en los empleados y permitirles tomar decisiones que impulsen la misión de la empresa.

Q & A

¿Qué es el micromanejo según el discurso?

El micromanejo se define como llevar personas creativas e imaginativas a una organización y luego reprimir su espíritu al instruirlos en detalles triviales, como el tamaño de la fuente que deben usar.

¿Por qué el micromanejo puede ser considerado como 'aplastar las almas' de los empleados?

El micromanejo es visto como 'aplastar las almas' porque limita la autonomía y la creatividad de los empleados, llevándolos a sentirse agotados y controlados, similar al cansancio que uno siente cuando alguien los vigila constantemente.

¿Qué estudio en el Reino Unido demuestra sobre el micromanejo y la fatiga?

El estudio en el Reino Unido utilizó rastreadores de actividad en 100 empleados de un hospital durante un turno de 12 horas. Descubrieron que no fue la cantidad de movimiento lo que causaba la fatiga, sino la falta de control sobre su trabajo.

¿Cuál fue el descubrimiento del estudio sobre qué empleados se sentían más fatigados?

El estudio reveló que los empleados que no tenían control sobre sus trabajos se sentían más fatigados que aquellos que se movían más durante su turno.

¿Por qué seguirían los gerentes realizando micromanejo si no es efectivo?

Según el discurso, el micromanejo puede ser un reflejo de la falta de confianza o la necesidad de control cuando los gerentes se alejan de las tareas diarias y comienzan a gestionar a otros en su lugar.

¿Qué relación hay entre el éxito en el trabajo y la progresión hacia roles de gerencia sin micromanejo?

Cuando alguien es bueno en su trabajo, usualmente es recompensado con más trabajo o con la oportunidad de gestionar a otros. Si este proceso se hace bien, puede llevar a roles de liderazgo sin necesidad de micromanejo.

¿Cómo cambió el papel del orador al crear su propia empresa y cómo esto afectó su enfoque en el micromanejo?

El orador experimentó una transformación desde hacer el trabajo manualmente hasta gestionar a las personas que hacían el trabajo, lo que eventualmente lo llevó a perder el control sobre el resultado de su trabajo y a comenzar a microgestionar.

¿Qué estrategia inicialmente implementó la empresa Boxed para aumentar la moral de los empleados y cómo cambió con el tiempo?

Inicialmente, Boxed escribía notas alegres en los comprobantes para romper la monotonía del trabajo. Con el tiempo, el orador comenzó a microgestionar cómo se debían escribir estas notas, lo que eventualmente causó quejas en el departamento de recursos humanos.

¿Cómo abordó Boxed el problema de la 'tax' rosa y cómo esto refleja la confianza en el equipo sin micromanejo?

Un miembro del equipo de marketing de Boxed, Nitasha, informó al orador sobre la 'tax' rosa, una tasa de lujo aplicada a productos femeninos como toallas sanitarias en varios estados de EE. UU. La empresa decidió reembolsar esta tasa a los clientes, demostrando confianza en el juicio y la ética del equipo.

¿Qué proyecto sorprendente desarrollaron los ingenieros de Boxed sin recibir instrucciones específicas sobre cómo hacerlo?

Los ingenieros desarrollaron un vehículo guiado autónomo que replicaba la eficiencia de una banda transportadora sin el costo de capital que esta requiere, utilizando baterías Tesla, cámaras estereoscópicas y sistemas de lidar.

¿Cuál es la solución fundamental al micromanejo según el orador y por qué es importante?

La solución fundamental al micromanejo es la confianza. Es importante porque permite a los empleados tomar la iniciativa y ser creativos para alcanzar los objetivos de la empresa, lo que puede resultar en soluciones innovadoras y un ambiente de trabajo más satisfactorio.

Outlines

00:00

😅 Micromanagement y su impacto en el trabajo

El orador comienza hablando sobre micromanagement, definiéndolo como el proceso de atraer personas imaginativas a una organización y luego limitar su creatividad con instrucciones excesivamente detalladas, como elegir el tamaño de fuente. Se menciona un estudio que vincula la falta de control en el trabajo con mayor fatiga entre los empleados de un hospital. El orador cuestiona si el micromanagement es una estrategia consciente para atraer a personas menos creativas, pero revela que la mayoría de los gerentes no lo desea. Propone que el micromanagement surge de la progresión en la jerarquía laboral, donde se pierde el control directo sobre la producción y se adopta un enfoque de control microscópico para compensar la falta de seguridad.

05:00

📈 El crecimiento de la empresa y la evolución del rol del CEO

El orador narra su experiencia como CEO de Boxed, una empresa que comenzó en su garaje y rápidamente se expandió. A medida que la empresa creció, su rol cambió de realizar tareas manuales a gestionar a las personas que realizaban dichas tareas, y eventualmente a gestionar a los gerentes. Describe cómo perdió el control directo sobre las operaciones y cómo su deseo de mantener el alto nivel de satisfacción del cliente llevó a intentar controlar excesivamente cómo los empleados debían escribir notas agradables en las facturas, lo que resultó en quejas en el departamento de recursos humanos.

10:00

🤔 La importancia de la confianza y el fracaso en el trabajo creativo

El orador reflexiona sobre el balance entre permitir la creatividad y el fracaso en el trabajo, argumentando que el fracaso puede ser necesario y beneficioso para el crecimiento y la innovación. Comparte ejemplos de cómo su empresa logró logros significativos al permitir que sus empleados tomaran iniciativas sin una microgestión excesiva. Menciona proyectos como la creación de un vehículo autónomo guía y una campaña de marketing para abordar la 'tax sobre productos para mujeres', que surgieron de la confianza puesta en el equipo y la libertad para que fallaran y aprendieran de esos fracasos.

Keywords

💡micromanagement

Micromanagement se refiere a la práctica de supervisar y controlar excesivamente los detalles del trabajo de los empleados, limitando su autonomía y creatividad. En el video, se menciona como una forma de 'aplastar las almas' de los trabajadores, ilustrando cómo esto puede conducir a una mayor fatiga y a una disminución en la satisfacción laboral.

💡imaginative people

Personas imaginativas son aquellos que poseen la capacidad de pensar de manera creativa y original. El video enfatiza la importancia de no reprimir esta cualidad al microgerir, ya que puede llevar a una pérdida de la esencia misma de la creatividad y la innovación en el lugar de trabajo.

💡fatigue

La fatiga se refiere a un estado de agotamiento físico o mental. En el contexto del video, se vincula con el micromanagement, ya que los empleados que sienten que su trabajo está siendo controlado de manera excesiva pueden experimentar mayor fatiga, incluso si no realizan una cantidad mayor de trabajo físico.

💡autonomy

La autonomía es la capacidad de tomar decisiones y actuar de manera independiente. El video muestra que cuando los empleados tienen control sobre su trabajo, se sienten menos fatigados y más satisfechos, lo cual es contrario a lo que ocurre con el micromanagement.

💡helicopter management

Este término, aunque no mencionado explícitamente en el video, es una metáfora común para describir el micromanagement, donde el supervisor 'vuela' sobre los empleados, supervisándolos de cerca en cada detalle de su trabajo, como si estuvieran en un helicóptero.

💡organizational hierarchy

La jerarquía organizacional es la estructura de mando y control dentro de una empresa. El video describe cómo, al ascender en la jerarquía, los gerentes pueden perder el control directo sobre el trabajo y comenzar a microgerir, lo que puede ser un malentendido de su rol.

💡trust

La confianza es una palabra clave en el video, que se presenta como la solución al micromanagement. Confiar en los empleados significa permitirles tomar decisiones y actuar de manera independiente, lo cual puede conducir a una mayor satisfacción y productividad.

💡failure

El fracaso se menciona en el video como un posible resultado de no microgerir y permitir que los empleados tomen decisiones. Aunque no se debe celebrar el fracaso, el video argumenta que puede ser necesario y constructivo para el crecimiento y la innovación.

💡innovation

La innovación es la capacidad de crear nuevas ideas o mejorar los procesos existentes. El video sugiere que el micromanagement puede reprimir la innovación, mientras que la confianza y la autonomía pueden fomentarla.

💡employee engagement

La participación del empleado se refiere a la conexión y el compromiso que los trabajadores sienten hacia su trabajo y la empresa. El video implica que el micromanagement puede disminuir la participación, mientras que la confianza y la autonomía pueden aumentarla.

💡corporate culture

La cultura corporativa es el conjunto de prácticas, valores y normas que caracterizan a una empresa. El video sugiere que el micromanagement puede afectar negativamente la cultura, mientras que la confianza y el fomento de la creatividad pueden enriquecerla.

Highlights

Micromanagement is defined as controlling every detail of employees' work, which can demotivate and crush their creativity.

A humorous example illustrates how micromanagement can be absurd, like blaming font choice for a failed business deal.

Micromanagement can cause mental fatigue, similar to having someone constantly watching over your shoulder.

A study in the UK showed that lack of control over one's job, not physical exertion, leads to the most fatigue.

Despite knowing micromanagement is ineffective, it's still practiced, possibly due to a fear of hiring imaginative people.

A survey revealed that 94% of managers do not want to hire dull and unimaginative people.

The speaker's personal experience with micromanagement began when he started his company, Boxed, in his garage.

As the company grew, the speaker's role shifted from doing work to managing people, leading to a loss of control over output.

An initiative to delight customers with personalized notes on invoices became a micromanagement issue.

Employees were given the freedom to delight customers, leading to creative and sometimes humorous notes.

Micromanagement can stifle creativity, as seen when employees were told how to write notes, causing complaints.

The speaker questioned the necessity of failure and its role in allowing smart and imaginative people to fulfill missions.

Engineers at Boxed created an autonomous guided vehicle to improve efficiency without high costs.

The marketing department initiated a campaign against the 'pink tax' on women's products without direct instruction.

The speaker emphasizes that the real upside of not micromanaging is empowering employees to take initiative and innovate.

The fundamental solution to micromanagement is trust, allowing employees to take ownership and drive success.

Transcripts

What I'm really here to do today is talk to you about micromanagement

and what I learned about micromanagement

by being a micromanager over the last few years of my life.

But first off, what is micromanagement?

How do we really define it?

Well, I posit that it's actually taking great, wonderful, imaginative people --

like all of you --

bringing them in into an organization

and then crushing their souls --

(Laughter)

by telling them what font size to use.

In the history of mankind,

has anyone ever said this?

"John, we were never going to close that deal with Times New Roman,

but because you insisted on Helvetica --

bam!

Dotted line --

millions of dollars started to flow.

That was the missing piece!"

No one's ever said that, right?

There's actually physical manifestations that we probably see in ourselves

by being micromanaged.

Think about the most tired you've ever been in your life, right?

It probably wasn't when you stayed the latest at work,

or it wasn't when you came home from a road trip,

it was probably when you had someone looking over your shoulder,

watching your each and every move.

Kind of like my mother-in-law when she's over right?

(Laughter)

I'm like, "I got this," you know?

And so there's actually data to support this.

There was a recent study in the UK.

They took 100 hospital employees,

put an activity tracker on them

and then let them go about their next 12-hour shift all alone,

just a regular 12-hour shift.

At the end of the shift, they asked them, "Do you feel fatigued?"

And what they found was actually really interesting.

It wasn't necessarily the people who moved the most

that felt the most fatigued,

but it was the folks that didn't have control over their jobs.

So if we know that micromanagement isn't really effective,

why do we do it?

Is it that the definition is wrong?

I posited that micromanagement

is just bringing in great, wonderful, imaginative people

and then crushing their souls,

so is it that we actually want to hire --

deep down inside of us --

dull and unimaginative people?

It's one of those questions you probably don't even need to ask.

It's like, "Do you want to get your luggage stolen at the airport?"

Probably not, but I've never been asked, right?

So has anyone asked you, as a manager,

"Do you want to hire dull and unimaginative people?"

So, I don't know, this is TED, we better back it up with data.

We actually asked hundreds of people around the country --

hundreds of managers across the country --

do you want to hire dull and unimaginative people?

Alright, it's an interesting question.

Well, interesting results as well.

So, 94% said no --

(Laughter)

we don't want to hire dull and unimaginative people.

Six percent probably didn't understand the question --

(Laughter)

but, bless their hearts,

maybe they do just want to hire dull and unimaginative people.

But 94 percent said they did not, and so why do we do this still then?

Well, I posit that it's something really, really simple

that all of us deep down inside know and have actually felt.

So when we get hired into an organization --

it could be a club, it could be a law firm,

it could be a school organization, it could be anything --

no one ever jumps to the top of the totem pole, right?

You start at the very bottom.

Doing what?

Doing work.

You actually do the work, right?

And if you're really good at doing the work,

what do you get rewarded with?

More work, right?

Yeah, that's right, you guys are all great micromanagers.

(Laughter)

You do more work,

and then pretty soon, if you're really good at it,

you do a little bit of work still,

but actually, you start to manage people doing the work.

And if you're really good at that, what happens after that?

You start managing the people who manage the people doing the work,

and it's at that point in time,

you start to lose control over the output of your job.

I've actually witnessed this firsthand.

So, I started a company called Boxed in our garage,

and this was it -- I know it doesn't seem like much --

you know, there's a pressure washer in the back --

this is "living the dream."

And my wife was really proud of me when we started this,

or that's what she said, she was really proud of me --

and so she would give me a hug, and I'm pretty sure she had her phone up

and she was thinking, "Oh, is John from Harvard still single?"

It was kind of like a lemonade stand gone wrong in the beginning,

but we actually went up and said mobile commerce is going to be big,

and actually consumer packaged goods were going to change over time,

so let's take these big, bulky packs that you don't want to lug home --

so not the two-pack of Oreo cookies but the 24-pack

and not the 24-pack of toilet paper but the 48-pack --

and let's ship it to you much like a warehouse club would do

except they wouldn't ship it to you.

So that's what we basically did.

We had a really slow printer

and what we did was actually say, "OK, this printer is taking forever, man.

Let's scribble something that would delight the customer

on the back of these invoices."

So we'd say, "Hey, keep smiling," you know?

"Hey, you're awesome,"

or, "Hey, enjoy the Doritos,"

or, "We love Gatorade, too."

Stuff like that.

And so it started breaking up the monotony of the job as well

because I was picking and packing all of the boxes,

and that's all you basically do for eight, nine, 10, 12 hours a day

when you're sitting in the garage.

And so an interesting thing happened.

So we actually started to grow.

And so, you know, over the last --

actually just even 36 months after that,

we ended up selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stuff,

and we actually grew really, really quickly.

But during that time, my role started to change, too.

So, yes, I was the CEO in the garage;

I was picking and packing, doing all the work,

but then I graduated

to actually managing the people who picked and packed,

and then pretty soon I managed the people

who managed the people picking and packing.

And even now, I manage the C-staff who manage the departments

who manage the people who manage the people picking and packing.

And it is at that point in time, I lost control.

So I thought, OK, we were delighting all of these customers with these notes.

They loved them, but I can't write these notes anymore,

so you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to tell these folks how to write these notes.

What pen to use, what color to use, what you should write,

what font you should use,

don't mess up the margins,

this has to be this big, this has to be that big.

And pretty soon this goal of raising morale

by breaking up the monotony in the fulfillment center

actually became micromanagement, and people started complaining to HR.

It's like, "Dude, this CEO guy has got to get out of my hair, OK?

I know how to write a damn note."

(Laughter)

So it was at that point in time, we said, "OK, you know?

We hired these great, wonderful people,

let's give them the mission that's 'delight the customer,'

let's give them the tool to do so, and that's these notes -- have at it."

And so what we found was actually pretty startling.

Some folks actually took the notes

and actually started drawing these really ornate minimurals on them.

When folks ordered diapers, you'd get really fun notes like this:

"Say 'hi' to the baby for us!"

And you know, the next size up, if they bought a bigger size,

they'd write, "Growing up so fast."

And so people really, really took to it.

But it was at that time that it also went off the rails a few times.

And so we had someone just writing, "Thx, thx," all the time,

and it's like, "Alright, dude, my boss used to write that to me,"

so, let's not write "Thx" anymore.

But you also had interesting things on the other side.

People got a little too creative.

And so, like I said before, we sell everything in bulk:

the big packs of diapers, big packs of toilet paper,

the big packs of Doritos and Oreo cookies.

We also sell the big packs of contraception,

and so --

this is getting a little hairy.

(Laughter)

So we sell the 40-pack of condoms, right?

We're all adults in this room -- 40-pack of condoms.

So, someone ordered four 40-packs of condoms --

(Laughter)

And that's all they ordered,

so, 160 condoms,

the packer was like, "I know how to delight the customer."

(Laughter)

"This guy ..."

This is what they wrote:

[Everyone loves an optimist]

(Laughter)

(Applause)

We didn't know whether to fire him or to promote him, but he's still there.

So, "Everyone loves an optimist."

But here is where it went a little bit off the rails

and I felt a little bit conflicted in all of this.

And --

oh, there's a really bad typo --

so if there was only a red T-E-D on stage that I counted on being here,

it wouldn't be a typo, right?

(Laughter)

(Applause)

I promised you I had a really bad sense of humor,

and now I'm gratifying that.

So I told you. But I really was conflicted, right?

At this point in time, we started doing things

that actually weren't part of our core mission

and people started failing at it.

And so, I thought, should we let them fail?

Should we continue to let them do this?

I don't know --

I didn't know at that moment,

but I thought this:

Is failure really that bad?

I'm not saying we should celebrate failure.

There's a lot of talk in Silicon Valley that says, "Let's celebrate failure."

No, I don't know if we would go all the way there,

because like, in our board meetings,

our board members are never like, "Hey, Chieh, you failed last quarter,

keep doing that, buddy, OK?"

No one's ever said that.

If you're part of an organization like that,

give me a call, I want to sit in on that meeting.

In private, I don't think many people celebrate failure,

but failure, I posit, is actually pretty necessary

for the folks truly in the long-term,

for the smart and imaginative people

truly trying to fulfill the mission that you give them at hand.

And so failure can actually be seen as a milestone

along that mission towards success.

And if the downside of not micromanaging

is potentially this perceived notion that you might fail more often,

and if it's really not that bad,

what is the upside?

Well, we saw the upside and it's pretty great.

We tasked our engineers and said,

"Hey, some of our fulfillment centers cost millions of dollars to build,

there's miles and miles of conveyor,

and so, can you do the same thing,

can you make them efficient without spending millions of dollars?"

So, they got to work:

they actually did this -- this is not photoshopped,

the guy is really grinding.

They built an autonomous guided vehicle.

We didn't tell them what to build, what format it needed to be.

In 90 days they produced the first prototype:

powered off Tesla batteries, stereoscopic cameras, lidar systems.

It basically replicates the efficiency of a conveyor belt

without the actual capex of a conveyor belt.

So it doesn't actually just stop with engineers.

Our marketing department --

we told them, "Hey, get the word out; do the right thing."

We have this wonderful lady, Nitasha, on the marketing team.

She stopped me in the morning,

she's like, "Chieh, what are we doing about the pink tax?"

I went and got my coffee, I sat down,

I said, "OK, Nitasha, what is this pink tax?"

And so she told me, it's really interesting.

So, some of you might know that in 32 states across America,

we actually charge a luxury goods tax on women's products

like feminine care products,

so tampons and pads are taxed like luxury goods items.

So I would never dare call my wife --

or if she called me and said, "Hey, hon, bring some pads on the way home,"

and I said, "Babe, you know, there's a trade war going on,

the economy's not that good,

so no luxury goods this month but next month I promise --

(Laughter)

I'll take a look at it."

I'd be single pretty quickly, right?

But what's super interesting is now --

we didn't tell them what to do --

but now, working with finance, they rebate the tax

back to customers all around the country that we unfairly have to collect.

And so at this point in time, you might be thinking,

"OK, what is the real, real upside of not micromanaging?"

and it's this:

I didn't do any of these projects.

I didn't make the AGV.

I didn't do the "Rethink the Pink Tax" campaign.

I didn't do any of this,

but I'm standing here on a TED stage taking all the credit for it.

(Laughter)

"This guy does nothing and takes all the credit for it.

He's a real CEO, this guy. He's really got it down."

(Laughter)

But the reality is this.

I don't have the CEO thing down 100 percent pat,

but I've actually learned the most fundamentally challenging lesson

I've ever had to learn,

and that's this.

There is only one solution to micromanagement ...

and that's to trust.

Thank you.

(Applause)