John Smith, a manager at an advertising firm, wants to make sure his team does their work to the best of their ability. He had a hand in choosing each person for what they could bring to the table. But on this last project, he spent so much time looking over everyone’s shoulders and changing their work, they actually ended up missing a deadline because of pushback against him. Now most of the team members quietly groan every time they see him coming, wondering what he’ll want to change next.
All good managers want to take charge of their teams in the most productive way. However, in the desire to effectively manage your team, you may (un)intentionally end up micromanaging them instead, actually bringing productivity down and harming the overall cohesiveness of everyone involved. If you’ve made any of these micromanaging mistakes, you may want to step back next time instead of getting overinvolved.
- You’ll end up neglecting your own responsibilities. As a manager, you have your own duties to attend to. When you spend your time doing the work of your employees, your own falls by the wayside or gets done inefficiently. And if you’re too focused on micromanaging your employees, you may well miss opportunities that would have caught your eye had you not been constantly checking their work. Remember that you hired your employees to do a job; give them the freedom and trust to do it so you can focus on yours. Of course part of management involves checking in on your team, but your involvement shouldn’t need to go beyond that.
- You may set up a negative pattern with employees. If employees become dependent on you to do their work and find their mistakes, they’ll begin to assume they don’t have to take care with projects and assignments because you’ll finish everything and clean up any errors. They’ll also show less initiative and independence, waiting for your approval before trying anything. Now a pattern of inefficiency starts, and what’s worse, you may actually lose confidence in their ability to do the work by themselves…and so will they. Too much hand-holding can end up holding employees back.
- It breeds contention. Capable employees who deal with a micromanager resent the intrusion, and rightfully so. Managers who too closely oversee their employees’ work end up having employees who mistrust them because they feel you don’t trust them to do their jobs properly. This tends to result in a loss of productivity and sometimes turnover as team members leave rather than stay with someone constantly micromanaging them.
Check in on your employees, but trust you’ve hired them for a reason and give them the freedom to do their jobs. A good manager knows he has a good team and has a light touch with them, guiding and suggesting rather than second-guessing. By doing so, you’ll do your own job better and so will your employees. To find that next great employee, reach out to the experienced staffing professionals at PrideStaff Thousand Oaks today!
