Micromanagement, the dark side of delegation.
Micromanagement is defined as managing with great or excessive control or attention to details. When is micromanagement okay? There are actually some key points when it is. Most managers are going to recognize these, and this will be a review.
If deadlines are missed, the manager obviously needs to step in and get people back on track, find out the cause of the missed deadline and, if necessary, help the individual make a plan to ensure they’ll be able to get their work done.
If a project is not going as expected, or employees are hitting benchmarks but the results are still not what were hoped for, you’ll need to step in and help manage the situation until the results are acceptable.
If a team member’s skills aren’t up to the challenge, or if they don’t have the time, or the interest, then it’s up to the manager to step in to make sure the task is completed. This is crucial for health of the team, but also for the individual as well, since if the delegated role is simply beyond their skills, you might actually cause more damage by letting them fail than by stepping in. Whether you do the work yourself or, better yet, delegate to someone else, keep the original team involved so they can learn from the process.
If, however, a team member has the skills, the time, and the ability, and is just not willing to perform, then you need to look at the situation from a personnel perspective. Ask yourself what is causing the problem. What’s going on with this individual? Remember, even seemingly individual issues can cause problems for the team very quickly.
And, of course, if a team member is responsible for a sensitive file or job, you may want to stay hands-on simply because if that information got out or if there was a problem with it, the risk would be higher than ensuring that that person had complete autonomy.
But when is it not okay to micro-manage? This is a gray area that managers often have trouble negotiating. It’s also a particularly important area to understand since when employees feel micromanaged, they often become frustrated or even fearful.
Often, this leads individuals to not trusting their own judgment. Remember, whether it’s due to your second-guessing them, or to asking too many questions about how they are arriving at a particular end result, a team member who doesn’t trust himself will find it much harder to take on any other delegated tasks.
The number one reason most employees leave a workplace is because of bad management. They feel that they don’t have the control, the autonomy, or the ability to grow. The good news is that these are all things you can control, as a manager.
Micromanaging is never okay if it negatively influences the mental health of the staff or the efficiency of the organization. If you’re constantly undermining an employee’s decisions and performance, even unintentionally, that’s going to affect their ability to perform, and it’s going to hurt the team dynamic as well. Luckily, you can determine if you’re a micromanager. Answer the seven questions below and find out where you can fit in the spectrum.
1. Is it hard for you to delegate tasks?
2. Generally speaking, do you think you can perform most of the tasks of your team better than they can?
3. Do you feel it is often that it is better to do the job yourself, rather than delegate?
4. Do you encourage your staff to learn from mistakes?
5. Do you spend an unusual amount of time overseeing single projects?
6. Are you as overworked as your team?
7. Does your team take initiative, or do they feel they should always check with you before taking action?
Did you answer all the questions above honestly? Remember, it is not all black and white.