All that matters is that you communicate your goals and expectations and they are highly motivated to achieve these goals. The rest is just tactics.
My feeling is that you hire good people, train them, and set them loose to accomplish the goals in the best way they think they can. I look for people who are excited about solving problems, have the right skill set and love to help others (I’m in the consulting business). If they run into trouble, they come to me, and I help them solve the problem. My job is to set goals, and figure out where we should go.
It is not my job to look over their shoulders, or, for that matter, to be their friend. It is extremely difficult to be friends with someone of a different level in the hierarchy of your organization. They might have to fire you someday, so you can’t be totally open with them. They can’t be totally open with you, either, if the organization doesn’t want them to share certain information with you. It is difficult to trust each other, as friends do, under these circumstances.