Tommy Weir: A great leader focuses on the details

A great leader focuses on the details. Many of the Emirates’ great leaders are actively involved in the details of their successful business.

When it comes to leaders and details, there is a big difference between what I hear and what I see. It is very common to hear that leaders should not get into small details and employees often complain when their leaders do.

But what I see is the exact opposite. Great leaders are obsessed with details. Stories are told of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, making 1am visits to the airport and hotels. Why? Because he had spare time. He makes these visits to check the details – to make sure everything is functioning as it should.

Interesting enough, he is following in the pattern of his father, Sheikh Rashid, who ruled Dubai during its early growth phases. He, too, paid attention to every detail in the development of Dubai, even to the delivery plans and made sure they were being followed.

Many of the Emirates’ great leaders follow this style and are actively involved in the details of their successful business. For example, it is commonly known that Majid Al Futtaim, who built some of the emirate’s largest and most productive shopping malls, walks his malls every week checking the details.

While many employees would complain that their leader is too much into the detail, I love what one Emirati director said about his boss being involved in the details: “The problem isn’t that he is inspecting the details, the problem is that he found something wrong that was in my control to fix.”

He went on to share with the room: “We should be embarrassed that he discovered what we should have.”

This reminds me of one of my first, and probably best, bosses. I had the privilege of working directly for the chancellor of a university in the early 1990s. At that time they sought donor support through direct mail – these were the days before email. He personally proofread every letter that went out and checked each phone number in each letter.

He was deeply involved in the details because he wanted to make sure the work was completed to the highest standard and people did their very best.

The sad thing is that he found errors in other people’s work. Just like the previous comment, we should be ashamed when the boss finds mistakes that we should have discovered and fixed.

His motive and that of other great leaders who inspect the details is not to find mistakes, it is to avoid any kind of mistake being made. There is a standard of execution they expect and they know that what they inspect is what becomes expected by their employees.

The counter argument is that the leader should trust his people, and I agree they should. But trust cannot be built when mistakes are being made. Trust comes when through inspection the quality is as expected.

Some would argue that the boss should allow people to make a mistake. I wholeheartedly disagree with this when it comes to daily operations. While you do need to create an environment where employees are not afraid of making a mistake, as a leader you still need to pay enough attention to the details to help uncover any mistakes that may be made before they are made.

Rather than being frustrated with a boss who is involved in the details, you are better to learn why they are involved and then to adjust your work accordingly.

Bosses, there is a big difference between being detail-oriented, meaning making sure every detail is correct, and micromanaging how the work is done. Micromanagement is a waste of your time and a frustration to your team. But you do need to be the chief quality officer and constantly raise the bar of what is expected via inspection.

Too frequently I hear that “leaders should not concentrate on the details – they should be focused on the big picture”. While you do need to shape the big picture and make it attractive for all, this does not negate your responsibility to make sure that every stroke on the business canvas creates a masterpiece.

Pay attention to the details, but let your people do them.

Tommy Weir is a leadership adviser, the author of 10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East and other leadership writings, and the founder of the Emerging Markets Leadership Center

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