Micromanagement At The Workplace: Here’s How It Is Destroying Your Team
Micromanagement at the workplace is the worst thing that you can do to a team. The article discusses everything from the signs of a micromanager to tips on how to stop micromanaging your team.
Are you never satisfied with your team’s work? Do you always feel frustrated that you would have employed a different approach for a task than your team member? Are you making constant corrections in everyone’s work? Does your daily routine include asking for status updates every hour?
If the answer to any of these questions is a yes, then you might not even have noticed but you have been guilty of doing micromanagement at the workplace. You are someone who is not empowering your team members to go above and beyond their capability.
And if you want to achieve greatness with your team, you need to part ways with these habits. In this post, I will be sharing some of the common instances of micromanagement in the workplace, how it hampers employee productivity and growth, and how you can deal with it.
So, let us begin.
What is Micromanagement in The Workplace?
Before we get into in-depth analysis of how to mitigate micromanagement, we need to develop a thorough understanding of what it is exactly. Although you would have gotten a rough idea from the statements I made in the beginning of this post, let’s have a more detailed look at its definition. The first result that you get on Google’s search defines Micromanagement as -
“a management style whereby a manager closely observes and/or controls and/or reminds the work of his/her subordinates or employees.”
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary , “micromanagement is a form of management with excessive control over.”
As you can see micromanagement shows a lack of freedom for the employees. This is the reason it is generally observed to be a negative and toxic style of managing teams and work. As a matter of fact, management gurus look at micromanagement as one of the potent factors for destroying team culture. Managers with this style of working are looked upon as the villains in the team.
What are the signs of a micromanager?
Moving further, let’s take a look at some of the common signs of a micromanager. Chances are that you might have never realized it, but you would have been guilty of being the dreaded micromanager that everyone in the team avoids.
Take a look and see for yourself -
- You have difficulty in delegating tasks
One of the first signs of micromanagement is that you are not comfortable with delegating tasks. You believe that anybody else won’t be able to do it right, so you always look to do everything on your own.
Even if you delegate a task, you are always looking over the shoulder of the person who has been assigned the task. Or worse, you assign it and then take it back simply because you think that the other person is not doing justice to the job.
2. You focus more on reporting than actual work
Since micromanagers have a hard time building trust that the team members are going to justice to the job, they are constantly asking for updates. This is the second sign of being a micromanager.
Instead of looking at the progress being made in the right direction, their focus is entirely on the spreadsheets. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that micromanagers get so engrossed in their insecurities that they end up making reporting a job for the team members.
If you have been doing the same, instead of letting your team members focus on the task at hand, you certainly fall into this category of managers.
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3. You keep your knowledge to yourself
Another common trait associated with micromanagers is their reluctance to share knowledge and information. They are not openly vocal about it, but they generally have their way to avoid it.
For instance, saying that they are too busy or it is not important for the team member to know about it and so on.
If you have ever found yourself behaving like this, and you are not really open to helping your subordinates by sharing your knowledge and experience, it is quite clear that you have been micromanaging your team.
4. You don’t take feedback constructively
Feedback sharing is always a two way process. However, with micromanagers it is more about giving than receiving. Feedback sessions with a micromanager is more about telling others how to do things, instead of getting to know what they think of the situation in hand. It is more about them, and their point of view, and less about the other person’s views.
When was the last time you actually valued the feedback you received from your team? Did you ever pay heed to what your team members have to say? If not, then this is another sign that you have been micromanaging them.
5. You are constantly complaining about everything around you
Micromanagers don’t appreciate the job well done. Rather, they always find flaws in the approach taken by their team members. They are always looking for mistakes, instead of trusting their team members.
It is okay to pursue excellence, but always finding fault in the ways your team is doing things is not the way to reach that state. In fact, it is a reflection of paranoia that you cannot handle others doing things their way — a possible sign of you being a micromanager.
6. You can see your employees avoiding you
No one likes a manager who practices micromanagement approaching them, since they know where the conversation will be headed. They are happy staying away from such managers. And, that’s how a toxic team culture continues to build in a workforce.
Do you see your employees rolling their eyes when you approach them? Do you see them avoiding you? Do you sense the feeling of disinterest in team meetings? If yes, this is the biggest sign that instead of being a leader who inspires the team, you have been behaving like a micromanager.
Micromanagement Issues
Micromanagers are not leaders, they are just managers who make life miserable for their team. This is the reason that no one likes working for such managers. Here is a look at the most common issues that a workforce has to face if they have a micromanager handling the team:
- Distrust in the team
Micromanagement kills autonomy for team members. Employees start looking at a micromanager as someone who will find fault in their work, one way or the other.
This can eventually crush the trust that they must have in you as a manager.
You cannot expect a team that does not trust you to go above and beyond expectations at work. In fact, it can lead to loss of motivation, productivity and eventually give rise to the worst case scenarios — employees leaving the job.
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2. No innovation
By being a micromanager, you are eventually squashing the creative spirit of your team. Don’t forget, employees must have some autonomy to innovate. When they are not given the freedom to do things their way, you cannot expect them to innovate.
As a matter of fact, a team that does not trust the management will never put their heads to innovation. Such a team can never grow to its full potential, it can only develop into a run of the mill workforce.
3. Crippled growth
With a team that does not trust its manager, and is never thinking about innovation, the growth of the business starts to suffer. Since employees become dependent on the manager for everything, instead of their skill, things start to fall apart.
Everyone is looking to save their job by doing what makes the manager happy, instead of doing things for the betterment of the work process. And, you cannot expect such a business to achieve greatness.
4. High employee turnover
High employee turnover is the biggest problem associated with micromanagement. People leave such an organization, the moment they get an opportunity, simply because no one likes to work in such an environment where their skills are not valued.
This causes irreparable damage to the organization, since all the investment made in training and learning goes down the drain. And, there’s nothing you can do about it until you change the way you handle the team.
5. Toxic culture
When all these things start to creep in an organization, it eventually loses its vision and culture. In fact, such type of management gives birth to a toxic work culture, which is unacceptable for any organization that wants to grow.
If the right steps are not taken at the right time to mitigate this problem, things can eventually go out of control and cause irreparable damage to the organization in terms of business and reputation.
How do you deal with micromanagement at work?
To avoid such things from happening, it is imperative that you as a manager take some actionable steps that can lead your team towards a positive change. So, how to stop micromanaging?
Well, here are a few tips that can help during deal with the micromanagement:
- Articulate expectations
A manager’s role is more closely aligned with facilitating the team rather than behaving as a task master. The easiest way to achieve this is by setting clear expectations, and putting them in front of the team members. Keep the communication channels open so that they can come to discuss whenever they feel like doing things in a particular way — where these discussions should always be a two process.
Articulating the expectations creates a sense of shared accountability, and that’s the first step towards building a team that sticks together to achieve great heights of success.
2. Empower your employees
Instead of telling them how to do the job, communicate what you expect as the end result. Show trust in their skill and prowess, and leave it to them to find the best way to do the job.
Empower them to become independent, so that they can grow to their full potential. After all, a team only grows when the team members tend to deliver to their full potential. And, this cannot happen without entrusting in them, which is one of the biggest issues with micromanagement.
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3. Bring technology into use
One of the reasons why micromanagement starts to creep in an office culture is because the leaders don’t have access to information. This is where using the right tools can be of great help.
For instance, using a project management software like ProofHub you can effectively delegate tasks, create a workflow for your team using Kanban boards, keep an eye on their work using custom reports and stay in ultimate control of everything, without resorting to micromanagement.
4. Focus on feedback
Another thing you need to do is change your feedback sharing process. Feedback sharing is always a two process. Focus on making it that way. Don’t create feedback sessions as a way to find fault in their way of doing things.
Let the employees have their say, how they are feeling about work, and what are their thoughts on improving the process. Are they happy with the way things are being managed or does it need some change? Think of it as more of a discussion where you and your team member are doing an exchange of ideas for the overall good.
5. Breed a culture of innovation
Create a culture, where employees feel comfortable in sharing their ideas knowing that they will be taken seriously. When employees know their voice will be heard, and they have the freedom to express their ideas, they will be willing to go beyond the ordinary.
They will continue to innovate and find ways to better their performance. They will continue to think towards not their personal growth, but the overall growth and progress of your business. This is how you build a great team.
Set aside the ‘I’ and switch to ‘We’
The problem with micromanagers is that they are so engrossed in focusing on the ‘I’ that they tend to forget the power of we. By showing trust in your employees, you are unleashing the power of ‘We’ that can take your organization places. Remember, a team does not become a team because people work together. A team becomes a team when people start to trust each other and show care and respect.
If you want that to happen for your team, it is time to mend your micromanagement habits so that you can switch to becoming a leader that is respected by all, and not a dreaded manager that everyone avoids.
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