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Management & Leadership vocabulary · Leadership Styles and Skills

Hands-on

Meaning in management & leadership, with examples

/ˌhændz ˈɑːn/adjectiveCommon term

In management & leadership, hands-on means: Personally involved in the practical, day-to-day work rather than only directing it from a distance; also used for training that involves doing things.

In Turkish: işin içinde olan, uygulamaya dönük, uygulamalı

How it is used

Usually positive: a hands-on manager, a hands-on approach, hands-on experience. In job ads it means you will do real work yourself, not just manage others. Being too hands-on can turn into micromanagement.

Example sentences

  1. Our CEO is very hands-on and still visits customers every week.

  2. We're looking for a hands-on team leader who can also write code.

Common collocations

  • hands-on manager
  • hands-on approach
  • hands-on experience
  • hands-on role
  • micromanageTo control every small detail of other people's work, checking constantly and making decisions for them instead of trusting them to do the job.
  • leadership styleThe typical way a person leads others, including how they make decisions, give instructions, share information and involve their team.
  • lead by exampleTo guide people by behaving in the way you want them to behave, rather than only telling them what to do.
  • delegateTo give part of your work, responsibility or decision-making power to someone else, usually a person in your team, while still checking that the result is achieved.

More terms: Leadership Styles and Skills

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