Partner Article

How to Avoid the Micro Management Death Trap

After experiencing a monster of a micro manager in a previous job role, when I became a manager myself less than a year ago with zero previous experience, I felt that I had the perfect bad example of exactly what type of leader I didn’t want to be to my team.

But with control freak tendencies and a mild OCD in organisation, I knew that restraining myself from constantly checking on their progress and peering over their shoulder every few hours would not make my team productive, or put me high in the office popularity stakes.

After all, I’ve been there, got the T-shirt and only just made it out with my full head of hair.

A recent case study byWILGroup found that a key quality required in a modern leader is the ability to delegate work, so how does a person with the natural ability obsess over spreadsheets let go of control and avoid the social suicide of becoming the micro manager?

Trust Your Team

It’s hard to let go but it can be even harder if you don’t trust your team to begin with. If you hire the right people, they will naturally want to own their work and achieve tasks on their own merit.

Hiring a dream team is a time consuming task that takes weeks and sometimes months, ensuring they have the right work ethic and can-do attitude, but if you don’t find those gems from the word go you will quickly begin to get frustrated and find those control freak tendencies taking over.

Micro managing is common workplace dilemma that stems from lack of trust, and this is exactly the area that I wanted to focus on when I took on my role.

It’s very easy to hire any old dogs body to fulfil a role, but I made the conscious decision to hire people who I felt I could trust with a task, some of my team even have more developed skills in areas than myself, but putting my personal pride aside, I now have an awesome team who work incredibly hard and create work that makes me proud to have them on my team.

Too often micromanagement can stifle creativity and deter team members from fulfilling their potential, when in reality individual success can quickly equate to business success because the brand is viewed as being knowledgeable and skilled.

When I had the micro manager from office hell, I quickly knew the elements that as an employee made me feel devalued and I strongly believe this exhausting experience of my own has held me in good stead for making managerial decisions now.

Josh Lucas, Development Manager at Bartell & Bartell approves of my theory, “A good leader must be able to step into their employees shoes and see the world through their eyes. Being able to relate to them does wonders for employees as they feel as though they are understood as a person”.

Implement Regular Training

None of us know everything, and I would never put this expectation onto my team.

Implementing regular training for my team not only allows them to grow their skill set but also boosts their confidence in their role. No matter the area, we discuss it in a Beer & Brains afternoon, concentrating on various areas of the business so that there is complete transparency about the work of each department.

Every day is a school day as the old saying goes, and after each session they are feeling more empowered to complete their work to the best of their ability.

Professional development is something that should be done as a team, even if yourself as a manager knows the ropes, it’s essential that you lead by example and adopt a continued interest in everything. They need to see that you’re there and engaged in the businesses development scheme so that they know management have complete buy-in. This way if they approach you about other training opportunities they will feel more comfortable in knowing that you are committed to the cause.

As my team are regularly updated about business processes and constantly learning new ways of managing their work load, I don’t have to be the annoying micro manager who acts as a know it all, because they know it all too. There should be no such thing as a knowledge hierarchy. An educated team is an empowered team.

Be Open

There were too many times in the past when my ideas would be shot down by a micro manager, or even worst adopted as their own so that they could take the praise. Experiences such as this can make you reluctant to be open and share anything, and this can lead to job dissatisfaction and ultimately a negative environment in the office.

“A good leader asks for feedback and suggestions, and then actually takes them. Too often leaders simply pay lip service to ask for feedback but don’t ever do anything about it. Great leaders show their team that their opinions are valued, that they are respected and listened to”, comments Sandy Geroux, CEO of WOWplace International.

An open approach is something I’m proactively encouraging in my team because I value their opinion and I know that for a fact that varied opinions can lead to increased productivity. When we all put our heads together and share problems, it enables us to quickly find a solution that works for us.

Many leaders may feel overwhelmed at the thought of an open discssuion, perhaps because they don’t trust their teams opinion. But the more your team are involved in the development of projects, the more they will feel confident in the work they are given.

I’m certainly not saying that I’m a perfect manager by any means as even I’m learning something new everyday. But my experience so far has taught me that to ensure my team can complete their work and be successful without my constant input, I need to put their needs and development above any spreadsheets.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca Moore .