When reading books and articles about leadership, you will see such concepts as ‘empowering your team’, ‘motivating individuals’, ‘seeing the big picture’, ‘achieving results’, and ‘mentoring your employees’. You will never see phrases such as ‘shadowing your employees’ or ‘performing their tasks’. What can be leadership to one person can slide into micromanaging to another if not careful. Below are some helpful hints about how micromanagement starts and ways to avoid falling into its grasp.
Often micromanagers are zealous, involved, hands-on managers who love the detail and see success with its proper use. They are often driven to succeed and want those around them to succeed. In many ways, they exhibit the traits of a successful leader.
However, during the course of leadership, one is forced to deal with many people of many skill levels and personalities. Some like to be praised for their work, some need constant involvement by the manager, and some just want the big picture and take care of the details themselves. Some can take a concept, work through the multitude of details, plan for the unexpected and deliver a wonderful project. Others, take the concept, put a little meat on the bones, so to speak, and call it complete. Dealing with all these sorts of personalities and drives can manipulate a detailed person into thinking micromanaging is the only way to maintain success. This manager gained success in their career while handling all the details so now to perpetuate that success; they think they must remain in the details of all tasks performed by all employees. But instead of replicating their success across to their team members, the micromanager risks disempowering and disengaging certain colleagues if not careful.
Why does micromanaging stiffel your team? Without being aware, a micromanager can create a team of timid and tentative workers. Many will be too paralyzed to think through all the issues. These types of workers become convinced that no matter what they do it will be wrong and; therefore, require a lot of management time and energy.
On the other hand, a good manager will empower the workers to think on their own and provide opportunities for employees to excel. A good manager will encourage one to grow with their job, think independently and see the results, both good and bad, of their decisions. A good manager will have loyal employees who excel over time to extreme heights. Meanwhile, a micromanager will have a number of tasks and projects done extremely well, but instead of multiplying their talent over the number of employees they manage, will be virtually working alone doing and re-doing others’ tasks.
If you have identified yourself as having tendencies towards micromanaging, how can you modify your behavior to avoid this pitfall? Try these tasks:
- Talk through a project with an employee to enough level of detail that you can rest assured the big hurdles will be managed. You have to then give your employees leeway to take the project in their own direction. If the main hurdles you identified are accomplished and the big picture is in tack, you should accept the project with praise.
- Ask open ended questions to solicit employee feedback about the project and listen to what is said. Listening engages your team which is exactly what is needed.
- Be careful to stay focused on the big picture and not the tiny details. If you find yourself correcting details, stop and ask if this will change the outcome of the project. If the effect is as minor as the change, resist making it.
- Use the project to mentor your employees from a positive perspective. Tell them what you liked and you will likely see it repeated.
- Take the time to provide explanations for your thought processes so the employee understands the reasons behind your instructions.
- Give employees time to learn your style, respond to it appropriately and manage projects and tasks to your liking. If they do not eventually get to this point, a sit down discussion is warranted. To resist micromanaging, you must stay in the detail for the very few who have not developed and give freedom to those that have mastered it. Your goal is to see all of your employees as independent working talent.
There is a freedom to shedding micromanaging tendencies. The freedom gives room to focus on developing and engaging your team. The result…soaring to new heights!=