Part of Becoming a Maintenance Manager, is Letting Go

One of the biggest transitions I’ve watched people struggle with in maintenance is the move from Superintendent to Maintenance Manager and usually, it’s not because they lack technical ability. In fact, the opposite is often true. Many people promoted into Maintenance Manager roles are excellent technically. They’ve spent years:

• Solving breakdowns
• Leading shutdowns
• Driving execution
• Improving systems
• Being the person people rely on for answers and making the final technical decisions

That capability and their results are usually why they got promoted, but then something strange happens. The behaviours that made them successful as a Superintendent start holding them back as a Manager.

I’ve watched new managers, and I have made the same mistake myself:

• Stay buried in technical detail
• Sit in planning meetings all day
• Continue solving the hard problems themselves
• Override their superintendents
• Struggle to let people do things differently to how they would do them

Slowly they can become the bottleneck in the organisation but not because they’re not up to the task, simply because mentally, they’re still operating like the best Superintendent on site.

A Common Situation

As many new Maintenance Managers try to stay technically close to everything because it feels safe and is in their comfort zone they struggle to be effective at enabling all areas under their control to lift and all be successful.

Often this happens because they fear losing control or they think that the way the superintendents are operating is wrong because it is different to what they would do.

The reality is:

• Their superintendents will do things differently
• The meetings won’t run exactly how they would run them
• The shutdowns won’t be planned exactly how they would plan them
• The investigations won’t be approached exactly how they would approach them
• They will lead their teams with their own style

In the mind of the Maintenance Manager, it often feels like “My way would have been better or avoided that error” Sometimes that’s even true but if the Maintenance Manager continues to control every important decision, the organisation never develops strong leaders underneath them and growth and improvement is hindered.

How To Overcome This

The best Maintenance Managers make a mental shift. They move:

• From technical expert → organisational leader
• From solving problems → building people (which means letting them fail at times in a safe way)
• From directing work → setting expectations and accountability
• From controlling detail → creating visibility, open culture and alignment

The key is not to disconnect from the operation but to understand the non-negotiable outcomes or standards and create systems, routines and rituals that allow you to be aware when these are not met and create a culture where they are met 99% of the time. This is where daily and weekly reporting rhythms and meetings become critical. Not endless reports not corporate dashboards, simple reporting that tells the manager:

• Was maintenance executed properly?
• Were breakdowns responded to correctly?
• Are defects being eliminated?
• Is planned work actually happening as scheduled?
• Are execution standards and equipment conditions slipping anywhere?
• Are the superintendents leading their areas effectively?

The purpose of reporting and meeting rituals at manager level is not to control the work. It is to create, visibility, alignment, accountability, early awareness of drift, and set clear standards.

Once this exists, the manager can genuinely let go of many day-to-day decisions because they can see the standards, behaviours, trends, and outcomes without needing to personally control every action.

Letting go also requires the manager to understand and accept that the superintendents will do things their way and I was surprised to learn that sometimes their way was much better than mine!

Clear Principle

The best Maintenance Managers stop trying to control everything and instead create the culture, clarity, visibility, standards, and leadership underneath them.

That is the difference between being:

• The “manager” who controls decisions …and
• The leader people willingly follow

One creates dependence, the other creates a culture that can continually improve.

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Reflective Question

Have you created reporting systems and non-negotiable standards that allow you to truly let go… or are you still staying involved because deep down you don’t trust the organisation without you?

Action to Implement This Week

Review your current daily and weekly reporting rhythm and ask yourself:

“Does this reporting help me understand how maintenance is being executed… or does it only show outcome metrics after the damage is already done?”

“Are the meeting routines creating the culture we need to improve or simply just another reporting session?”

Then implement one simple reporting or meeting improvement this week that gives visibility of execution quality without dragging you back into the weeds and let go of one decision that you keep to yourself.

Change the mindset of your job as a Maintenance Manager to a Maintenance Leader.