Stop Being a Micromanager!

You’ve assigned an important task to a very talented employee and given them a deadline. Now, do you let them do their work and simply touch base with them at pre-defined points along the way – or do you keep dropping by their desk and sending e-mails to check progress? If it’s the latter, you might be a micromanager.  

Micromanagers take perfectly positive attributes, say- an attention to detail and a hands-on attitude, to the extreme. Micromanagers may be driven to work like this either because they’re control-obsessed or because they feel driven to push everyone around them to succeed. Being a micromanager could risk disempowering colleagues. They ruin colleagues’ confidence, hurt their performance, and frustrate them to the point where they quit. Want to know how to be a great manager?  Here are tips on how you can be a better manager by taking a step back.

Build a strong team.
Everything starts by hiring the right employees who are a good fit with your business. As part of the interview process, look closely at how each candidate’s experience meets your needs and how well you think they’ll work with other employees. It may take some trial and error, but you’ll gradually get a sense of exactly who and what you’re looking for. Once you have a solid team in place, encourage everyone to offer suggestions and input. Give your employees reasonable latitude to make decisions and act on some of their own ideas. Don’t squander their potentially invaluable contributions!

It’s the scary D-word…Delegate.
When a particular task needs to be done, look for the employee whose experience and talents make them the best choice for the job. Then give them both the authority and the resources to handle the responsibility. Clearly communicate your expectations to the employee. When appropriate, explain how what they’re doing corresponds to the short or long-term goals of the business. The more an employee knows, the more they are inclined to “own” the assignment. Consider scheduling bi-weekly progress meetings with them. This will help keep you in the loop with their progress and any challenges they encounter. Although it may seem crazy, sometimes it’s OK when employees fail to fulfill their responsibilities, too. Everybody learns from mistakes, and it better equips us all for future success.

Nobody’s perfect.
You feel you know how something should be done, and since it’s your idea or task, the outcome needs to be “perfect.” Let go of this notion.  Whether it’s your own version of perfect or how you’ve been doing things you’re whole life, you need to realize that there may be other ways to successfully complete a task or a project and that someone else has a viable solution. This may be the biggest tip. Many times in companies, divergence happens because no two people are alike and yet every two people expect the other to tackle a project the exact same way they would. This is very much a trend among micromanagers as well. Once you come to terms with the fact that there are other paths and other ways of reaching the same objective, you’ll find the flow of work and team atmosphere much stronger and upbeat. 

Whether you are a micromanager or just a manager trying to build a strong team; PrideStaff Financial can help get your team where you want it to be. Contact us to learn more!