I agree that a manager like that is better than a micromanager, but ultimately what I want (and what they deserve higher pay for) in a manager is leadership. Leadership means that they make some of the tough decisions and fess up to them later.

I've worked with managers who only asked questions and let the team decide everything. The problem is that the team is generally already stretched really thin and isn't really free (in terms of workload) or equipped to make decisions. When the manager essentially delegates all of the ugly and messy work to the team (i.e. decision-making) I end up wondering what they're actually doing.

It's one thing to ask and field questions about what everyone thinks about a subject in order to make decisions (and maybe that's what you meant), but in my experience the second part rarely happens. Maybe it's just me, but I feel overwhelmed with being asked a bunch of questions when I actually desire concrete guidance or direction. Granted that's a case by case thing but I feel that managers who do the former aren't that good at the latter in times of need.

I always admired the "management strategy" of Captain Picard in Star Trek TNG. He asked for advice, listened to people he trusted, and then made a decision that he took total responsibility for. He was always willing to listen, but there was no confusion about who had the ultimate authority. Also, he trusted domain experts to do their work without micromanaging them, but didn't hesitate to bring them into line if they strayed too far from the team's objectives.