A micromanager scrutinizes and criticizes every tiny detail of the day-to-day tasks of the team members. The practice of micromanagement is extremely demotivating for the team. A micromanager can kill the creativity of his or her team members because s/he prescribed every minor thoroughgoing of how tasks should be done. Moreover, the employees start to doubt if their manager trusts their skills, qualifications, and expertise. Here the question arise how to stop micromanagement.
Moreover, the habit of micromanagement is very hard to leave. A manager who used to monitor every minor detail of his team suddenly can never leave everything up to his team members. Thus, micromanagement goes on and on. But this control-frack nature of a manager can cause great harm to his team. The team confidence as well as the outcomes are greatly affected too. If you want to learn more adverse effects of the micromanagement, please read “How Micromanagement Destroy Your Team”
This blog will discuss what a manager can do to give his people the space they need to succeed, how should s/he prioritize where to interrupt and where not, moreover, how to stop micromanagement.
Set individual goal for the employees
A manager should set goals for individual employees of his or her team. This is a very important task for a manager. When all the employees have their own goal, aligned with the company’s overall goal, they will be aware about what they should do. The manager will only evaluate if an employee can achieve his or her goal or not. Thus there will be no need of monitoring the day to day activities of the employees. It will help the manager to focus on the bigger picture.
Focus on the outcome not on the process
A micromanager can never be satisfied just by telling his subordinates what to do, rather he defines every tiny detail of how it should be done. It sometimes creates disappointment for the subordinates. They feel that they are not to be trusted by their boss. Their skills and expertise become questioned. So a manager should focus on the outcome of his or team instead of monitoring the tiny details of how the work should be done. It helps the subordinates to believe in their own skills and flourish them with confidence.
Allow employee to make mistake
The ultimate target of a leader is to bring out the best creativity of his or her team members and inspire them to use this in their daily work. A close monitoring demotivates employees to implement their own ideas and skills rather they just do what their boss told. In a work environment where the manager controls everything the employee does not bother to implement their own ideas. Because, it causes mistakes sometimes. If the boss does not allow these mistakes the innovation does not take place. So the team efficiency remains unprogressive.
Manage Expectations, Not Tasks
An efficient manager ensures each employee is doing what is expected. When everyone becomes aware about the management expectations and work to fulfill it, there is no need for micromanagement. According to Donald Hatter, Donald Hatter Inc. “It is about outcomes, not activity”. So, if a manager spends most of his time defining what needs to be done, he will fail to communicate the expectations properly. Therefore, the manager should focus on the expectation sometimes and let the team members to figure out the way to achieve it.
Get Feedback
Getting feedback from the team members is the most efficient way of democratic leadership. In this process, the team members also become part of the task and it becomes easier to achieve the goal. Through feedback the manager can get to know if the team members are annoyed with him. Or sometimes, problems can be raised among the team. Through feedback the manager can understand how significant the problem is. Moreover, the employees feel more relief when they can share their feedback regarding any issue. So, it increases their level of satisfaction towards the company and their boss.
Identify the Priorities
A manager should have the knowledge of what to ignore and what to take seriously. Involving in micromanagement causes a manager to be involved in so many unnecessary things that he can not concentrate on high priority work. An efficient manager should delegate the tasks and train his tem to accomplish these rather than wasting time in prescribing every little process of how to do it. “Micromanaging displaces the real work of leaders, which is developing and articulating a compelling and strategically relevant vision for your team.”
Be A Facilitator, Not A Taskmaster
A manager should play the role of facilitator for his team. He should establish such an environment where the subordinates feel easy to communicate. He should encourage the team to come to him with problems and questions. So that they can feel that their boss trusts them. A good manager does not confine his activities only within inquiry and follow up rather he facilitates his team with the solutions.
Summary
“Micromanaging dents your team’s morale by establishing a tone of mistrust—and it limits your team’s capacity to grow,”- Muriel Maignan Wilkins. So a manager should stop micromanaging to ensure better efficiency and team performance. Here is the summary of “how to stop micromanagement” –
- Set individual goal for the employees
- Focus on the outcome not on the process
- Allow employee to make mistake
- Manage Expectations, Not Tasks
- Get Feedback
- Identify the Priorities
- Be A Facilitator, Not A Taskmaster.
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