Things To Avoid In Management
According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, the word “micromanage” means, “To manage especially with excessive control or attention to details.” Both meanings hint at some positive traits i.e. control, manage, attention to details etc. Yet, the conclusion is clearly negative. In other words, micromanaging is something that takes positive qualities to an extreme. Thus, it usually ends up yielding negative results.
In a typical office situation, a supervisor would assign an activity to an employee and provide the employee with the details of the activity. This would include pre-defined points when the supervisor reviews the work in progress. Thereafter, the supervisor lets the employee work on the activity. At the pre-defined stages of review, the supervisor evaluates the work and the rate of progress.
Micromanaging supervisors, however, keep dropping by the employee’s desk to check the rate of progress. Alternatively, they keep calling or sending e-mails to the employee. In this scenario, the employee probably spends more time interacting with the supervisor than working on the activity assigned.
The Issues with Micromanaging Your Employees or Team Members
Management experts believe that good managers help their team members succeed. They achieve this by:
v Demonstrating trust in the capabilities of their people
v Giving their people opportunities to showcase their excellence
v Giving people free rein to express their creativity in tasks assigned to them and,
v Empowering people to make decisions and holding them accountable to face the consequences
Micromanagers, however, seldom follow these principles. Instead, they avoid giving their people the opportunities to demonstrate their worth. They repetitively hound them when they assign work =. In addition, they control every aspect of the activity despite assigning it to someone. Thus, what they get is often a watered-down version of what they would have produced themselves, instead of a good-to-average effort from someone attempting the task for the first time. Lastly, micromanagers often prevent their people from making decisions and facing the consequences and therefore end up with stinted workers, who cannot think for themselves when entrusted with a task.
On the face of it, it would appear that micromanaging affects those reporting to a micromanaging supervisor. However, micromanaging also takes a great toll on the micromanager. At the leadership level, organizations expect their leaders to focus on the bigger picture. Micromanagers would remain pre-occupied with everything at a transactional level. They would seldom have the time and the energy to focus on activities that are more meaningful. Eventually, they may find it hard to focus on activities like planning, forecasting, analysis, communication etc. that their bosses expect from them. At the end, their micromanagement often ends up consuming their own ambitions.
Six Tips for Getting Rid of Your Micromanaging Habits
It is easy to blame bosses for micromanaging their employees or team members. However, in a real-time scenario, bosses or supervisors seldom know that they are micromanaging their people. People working for micromanaging supervisors would usually be tentative and diffident. Hence, if the boss assigned some work to them, they would either produce something that requires several improvements, or alternatively, keep approaching their supervisor for inputs. Unfortunately, this approach could result in a perfectly normal supervisor turning into a micromanager. Therefore, check your tendency to micromanage by avoiding the six behavioral traits of micromanagers given below.
- Holding on to Your Insecurities: Micromanagers feel that the more they control things, the lesser chances there would be of anyone replacing them. In doing so, they forget that the only way to climb the hierarchical ladder is to hand over certain tasks and responsibilities to others. This aversion to handing over control essentially stems from their own insecurities.
- Hiring the Wrong People: Micromanagers keep the reins of control firmly in their hands. Thus, they’re more likely to hire people who ‘seem right’ to them, instead of hiring people who are competent. The former will hang on to every word they say and seldom take any decisions on their own. The latter might upset the applecart every now and then. However, they would be able to take on (and deliver) tasks independently too. Occasionally, they might even deliver work to a higher standard than was expected.
- Never Delegate Anything: As mentioned earlier, micromanagers prefer to retain the reins of control. Thus, they would usually never delegate anything to another individual. By doing so, they keep themselves occupied with transactional activities. These activities prevent them from spending much time or effort on activities that are more important. Micromanagers forget that delegating work frees up their time. It results in the development of the second line of command i.e. creating backups. It also helps them to focus on activities that could further their development up to the hierarchical ladder.
- Never Expressing Your Expectations: Generally, micromanagers avoid assigning work to others. Occasionally though, they might delegate some work. In this situation, they would either provide incomplete instructions or they might avoid airing their expectations from the other person. This result is a no-win situation for the employee or team member. For example, the employee could find it hard to complete the assigned task, without referring to the supervisor frequently. Alternatively, the employee might complete the task, but it might not meet the expectations of the supervisor. This creates unnecessary re-work for the employee.
- Retaining the Decision-making Controls: Employees feel valued when their views count. In addition, making decisions, abiding by them and reaping the consequences are what constitutes experience. This is what makes employees responsible, accountable and able to work independently. A micromanager retains all authority and decision-making power. As a result, employees seldom gain the confidence of being able to handle activities independently. Instead, they become timid and diffident individuals, who require immense handholding even after having years of experience.
- Sticking to the Tried and Tested: Diversity of opinion in a team or an organization often helps in considering a subject from all possible viewpoints. Every perspective helps in understanding a situation more holistically. However, micromanagers believe in propagating the belief that their point of view is the best. Therefore, when they task an individual with something, they will keep checking everything that the individual does. They will not entertain the thought that the individual could deliver a successful outcome by following a different approach. As a supervisor, you need to prioritize what’s more important. You need to decide between having something delivered to your scale of “perfection” or achieving a successful outcome by adopting a different approach.
A micromanaging supervisor could be bad news for an employee. The best way to deal with this is to try a simple experiment. Simply assign a task to a team member and then forget about it until the deadline. Do this for everyone who reports to you, starting from the brightest to the average. This would give you an idea of whom you could entrust in completing important work. It would also indicate which employees need more mentoring and coaching. By taking the time to cultivate a rapport with each member of your team, you would be able to build a strong and dynamic team. This could go a long way towards ensuring that your team delivers better results more effectively. Success makes for a happy team and happier individuals. Remember, employees never leave their jobs. They only leave their managers (or supervisors).
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