Management Styles: Are You A City Or A Town?

Recently I’ve had the good fortune — or not so good fortune — of working with small town and city governments. Obviously, they both have their own quirks and pitfalls.

In a small town, everyone knows everything that’s going on in the community. If someone cuts down a small tree, everyone knows about it. Probably the same day.

In contrast, cities are so large that no one notices anything unless it directly effects their lives. You could cut down hundreds of trees, but in such a large community, it would probably get overlooked. In the city, no one knows every single thing that’s going on. Oh, there might be the one squeaky wheel who complains about it, but that’s it.

To me, this is actually a larger metaphor for how we choose to run our businesses. Is our business like a small town where everything is micromanaged? Do we concern ourselves with smaller issues, looking at everything going on in the business? Or do we take a larger view and choose a more autonomous management style? If we adopt a more autonomous style, are we like a city where we only notice something if it becomes a larger issue?

I think this begs three questions:

1. How do you manage your company?
2. What management style do your employees prefer?
3. What management style does your business demand?

Sometimes you need to run a business like a small town, and sometimes you need to run a business like a city. But I think the trick is to know what management style to use and when.

How do you run your company? And why do you choose that management style?