If you are manager, micromanaging is something you must avoid at all costs. You can frustrate your team and their work if you see your role as telling them what to do and checking up on them every minute. How do you know if you are a micro-manager?
You get too much into the detail: An eye for detail is important to be effective and knowing the critical detail enables you to support your team. But when you are obsessed with knowing EVERYTHING, you are micromanaging.
Know how your team members prefer to work so that you can give space to those who require it and coach those who need it. Focus on the key things, the expected results and ignore inconsequential bits.
You need to control everything: Sometimes your issue might not be interest in the all the detail; rather a need to have everyone to do things a particular way. When you do that, you undermine the team’s confidence and deny them opportunity to bring fresh and new insights to work at hand.
Fostering teamwork should be a priority. When you push everyone around, you disempower them; they stop thinking or leave.
You sideline those you consider smart: This is usually a sign that you feel threatened by them: If you have colleagues with exceptional ability, don’t mess it up with nitpicking or ‘putting them on the bench’. Facilitate their performance. Don’t compete with them; rather lead them to accomplish work that everyone takes pride in.
Now you know what micromanaging looks like; how do you stop it?
Let the free spirits be: Suppress the need to constantly intervene. Set up those around you to succeed, help them take responsibility for their work and give them authority where appropriate to make their own decisions. Don’t hoard opportunities that will make them shine; a disempowered employee cannot be effective.
Actively seek contribution: Vow to ask for views and encourage other ways of doing things as long as they deliver results. If you have some creative people with huge potential, delegate big pieces of work to them. Know what keeps everyone engaged and what their strengths are so that you can tap into those.
Work on your delegation skills: It can take time to learn to let go. Encourage them to take initiative and then trust them to deliver. If you are brave, you might even be honest with them about your need to get better at not micro-managing so that they can respectfully hold you to account
Make everyone’s growth your goal: If no one grows on the team, including yourself, you won’t be delivering much; so find a way to develop yourself and others. Hone your coaching skills so that you can support the team. Regularly track how team members are growing.
Now take action: Are you micromanaging? Identify this week ways to help you stop.
