The word micromanager often carries a negative connotation because, from an employee’s perspective, that type of leader is over-involved in his work, creates tension, and doesn’t trust employees enough to do their job. 

 Servant leadership, on the other hand, brokers mutual trust because such leaders believe in employees’ skills and knowledge. With a more collaborative and positive approach than micromanagers, servant leaders are well-positioned to impact employee development and, with it, company growth.

Trust is a key issue today as more companies consider part-time or full-time remote work in the wake of COVID-19. Servant leadership is becoming more important in getting the most out of employees while keeping them comfortable and engaged. 

 Most leaders believe they should have all the answers and not demonstrate weakness. But a servant leader shows great strength and awareness by putting employees first and focusing on the growth and well-being of his/her people.

 I had my eureka moment as a company leader when I asked my employees if I was micro-managing them. I learned how to become a servant leader and see how everyone can benefit.

 In building a company from the ground up, I had become so entrenched in the day-to-day tasks of each role in the company — having done every job myself — that I lost sight of what my newest role required most: real leadership in the form of servant leadership.

 Here are tips for a company leader to change from a micromanager into a servant leader:

• Follow the 3 Is — invest, inspire, ignite. To build a stronger team that has confidence and a high degree of autonomy and productivity, leaders should invest in education and training. Inspire with your vision and emphasize employees role in it. You ultimately let go and empower them to execute their jobs within the framework of the core culture values. Your best employees will perform at a higher level because they crave that earned freedom.

• Create core culture values. I don’t advocate using honesty and integrity as core values because they are table stakes. No one says we want to lie, cheat, or be dishonest to our customers and employees. Better core culture values are “the customer comes first” and “continuous improvement”. One way to create or strengthen core culture values is to have a team of highly regarded employees brainstorm about the company’s best attributes. Celebrate the core values each month by asking employees for examples of peers who have demonstrated a core value.

• Create alignment. The reason why a business does what it does stands as its purpose or mission. When a company is fully aligned with that purpose, empowerment flows. The talented people out there want great leaders who can empower them. And you can’t empower people unless you are all aligned. You create amazing strength and collective focus.

• Delegate more responsibilities. High performers expect to receive bigger opportunities due to their commitment and consistent production. If they must wait too long for those opportunities, their resentment may grow. But sometimes the leader is reluctant to cede control. Servant leaders learn it’s a fool’s errand, and that it hinders the growth of the company’s most talented people, to keep feeling they have to do everything themselves.

• Live in gratitude. When you develop a life of living in gratitude, it’s [compelling] to others, often inspiring them to do more of the same. Unfortunately, many leaders are negative because they are leading ungrateful lives, and they can’t truly motivate people through cynicism, anger, or intimidation. Effective leaders live in gratitude. Coming from a place of respect, appreciation, and generosity, they’re more authentic, and others, in turn, trust and respect them.

Empower your team through your passion and enthusiasm in them as employees and people. Allow them to make the company better and to represent it in the best light.      

Doug Meyer-Cuno is ForbesBooks author of “The Recipe For Empowered Leadership: 25 Ingredients For Creating Value & Empowering Others.” He founded a food- ingredients distribution company, Carolina Ingredients, and expanded it into a nationally recognized industrial-seasoning manufacturer before it was acquired by Mitsubishi in 2019. Since then, he has founded the company, Empowered Leadership.

Although the debate continues about whether the business world will return to normal even after most people receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the expectation is that many companies will soon call employees back to the office.

 Some workers may still get to work part time from home, and some businesses will make remote work permanent. But the tension between owners and workers is building as it becomes evident many employees are resistant to giving up working from home. In a survey, 65 percent said they want to work remotely full time after the pandemic. And in a poll conducted by LiveCareer, 29 percent of working professionals said they would quit if they couldn’t continue working remotely.

But those who push back against ownership’s preference to return to the office might paint themselves into a corner, especially if they aren’t in a position to quit.

 The expected stimulus money will dissipate by the third quarter and as companies continue to struggle, the cuts will begin. Once we reach herd immunity, companies will be deciding whether it makes sense to keep expensive office space.

 Corporate gravity will begin to pull key workers back to the office, and there will be resistance from employees. And those companies that do choose to go remote at least part of the time may still downsize. The bottom line for workers is, if they want to work remotely, they would be wise to take the extra steps to ensure they stand out.

 Employees who continue to work mostly from home should do these things to keep their performance and communication levels high.

• Show up. Even if a company allows employees to work from home permanently, remote workers would be wise to go to the office at least one day each week. Out of sight might also mean out of mind, or out of job — when it’s time to trim the roster. Working from a distance all the time is going to lower your skill level, your engagement, and your productivity. Employees need to make the time to have facetime in the office and stay in the groove with ownership and management. You can’t do that as well at home relying on technology.

• Show the human touch. When we achieve herd immunity, face-to-face meetings with co-workers, managers, and clients should be 20 to 25 percent of someone’s portfolio of time. Zoom meetings are a pain because you have to set them up. Remote employees should prioritize live-voice communication with colleagues, managers, and clients in order to stay in the game. Picking up the phone to talk with someone keeps the relationship alive and brings more clarity than constantly texting or emailing.

• Push your boss to measure you quantitatively. Woe to the remote employees who believe they are not under increasing scrutiny, for downsizing is on the way. The good employees working at home will have more reporting mechanisms in place. Show your boss your genuine enthusiasm by being proactive and coming up with more measurables for your performance.

• Do extracurricular work. The question is, how can you be front-and-center with the boss? One way is to do extracurricular work by bringing relevant and helpful articles to ownership. Develop a thesis for those articles to show that you’re a thought leader. Executives and managers are flooded with emails, so the smart employees send a synthesis of an article that’s to the point.

Businesses can’t afford slippage. Once there is herd immunity, the remote-work issue shouldn’t be just about where employees feel they are most comfortable, but also how they can be the most valuable and effective.        

Rod Robertson (www.briggscapital.com) is an international entrepreneur and author of “Winning at Entrepreneurship: Insider’s Tips on Buying, Building, and Selling Your Own Business.” Robertson is the owner of Briggs Capital, a boutique international investment bank. 

A decent case from the Appellate Division, First Department — King v. Marsh & McLennan Agency, LLC (Feb. 11, 2021) — serves as a reminder that, depending on where your business is located within New York state, a different rule applies for the enforceability of your employee non-competition and non-solicitation covenants when you terminate someone without cause.

Specifically, in the King case, the First Department again recognized the governing rule for courts (and companies and employees) located within the First and Second Departments (i.e., New York City and downstate counties) that a non-competition or non-solicitation covenant is unenforceable as a matter of law where the employee is terminated without cause. See also Kolchins v. Evolution Mkts., Inc. (1st Dept., 2020) and Borne Chemical Co. v. Dictrow (2nd Dept., 1981).

However, the opposite rule exists for courts (and companies and employees) which are located within the Fourth Department (i.e., all of Western New York and parts of the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes region, including all of Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse). 

There, as recently held in the case of Frank v. Metalico Rochester, Inc. (2019), the termination of an employee without cause does “not render the restrictive covenants in the agreement unenforceable.” See also, Brown & Brown, Inc. v. Johnson, (4th Dept., 2014), holding that a termination without cause does “not render the restrictive covenants … unenforceable.” 

The divergent conclusions on this issue find their genesis in the Court of Appeals case of Post v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., (1979). There, New York’s highest court held — in the context of the “employee choice” doctrine (i.e., where the employee agrees that he/she will return a significant benefit in the event that he/she chooses to violate the terms of a non-competition covenant) — that the covenant cannot be enforced “where the termination of employment is involuntary and without cause.” 

While the First and Second Departments have extended this holding to apply to all non-competition covenants, the Fourth Department has refused to do so and has applied the rule only to certain “employee choice” or “forfeiture for competition” provisions. 

Ultimately, the Court of Appeals will need to resolve this conflict between the Appellate Divisions in New York State. However, until that occurs, a different rule will continue to exist for companies and employees, depending on where those companies and employees are located within the state, as to whether a non-competition or non-solicitation covenant can be enforced in the event of a termination without cause.      

Bradley A. Hoppe is a member (partner) in the Buffalo office of Syracuse–based law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC. He is chair of Bond’s manufacturing industry group. Contact Hoppe at bhoppe@bsk.com. This article is drawn and edited from the company’s website.