How effectively do your team members “manage up” and manage your involvement in their work?

Our reader poll today asks: How effectively do your team members “manage up” and manage your involvement in their work?

• Very: They pull me in as needed and keep me well informed 38.43%
• Somewhat: They involve me but not always in the most effective ways 44.11%
• Not very: They struggle to figure out how to involve me in their work 8.73% 
• Not at all: They either involve me way too much or not at all 8.73%

Pulling Leaders In. A large proportion of you report that your teams do a very effective or somewhat effective job of involving you in their work. If you’re not satisfied with how they’re involving you (the “somewhat,” “not very” and “not at all” groups), ask yourself if your expectations are clear for how best to involve you. Have you sat down with them and told them the types of decisions you need to be consulted on? Do they know specific areas of expertise you have where you can help them with problem solving? Do they know the frequency you expect to be updated? Do they know your preferred communication methods (email, meeting, call, etc.) for getting involved? If they don’t know your expectations, it’s unfair to think they’re not doing a good job of meeting them. Sit down with them and answer these questions for them. You might find their effectiveness goes up significantly when they actually know what you expect.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.