Introduction
Leaders often find it challenging to differentiate between mentoring team members and micromanaging them. Various aspects contribute to this dilemma, but your motivation is primary among them. Your intentions – that which motivates you to take a particular course of action – can have a significant impact on your behavior and on what’s required to alter it for the better.
When it comes to understanding your motivation (intentions) as a leader, let’s begin by considering three of the most difficult aspects of leadership [1]:
1. You have to ensure that your team is productive.
2. You want to keep the members of your team motivated to work.
3. You need to invest in the continued professional development of team members.
These aspects may, at first glance, appear to compete with one another. However, that needn’t be the case if you balance the tradeoffs among them.
The Micromanagement Trap
The aspect that most often traps leaders into crossing the line into micromanagement is the first one. When a team or individual team members keep missing deadlines or continually fail to meet their commitments, many leaders would rather annoy them as a result of micromanagement than fall short of team goal(s) [2]. Therein lay the most insidious lure into the micromanagement trap. True, some leaders are drawn into the trap simply because they are control freaks or very insecure by nature, but the desire to meet productivity goals far outweighs any other reason for crossing the line into micromanagement.
Regardless of core motivation, micromanagement usually rears its head based on a lack of at least one of the following factors. A lack of:
Clarity (poorly defined problem and/or requirements)
Adequate instructions or direction
Required resources
Motivation
Required skills in the person or group completing the task.
One way or another, all of these reasons for failure may be laid first and foremost at the feet of the leader, not those being led. [3] A leader is responsible for guiding (clarifying ambiguity and defining requirements), liaising (promoting better communication), facilitating (removing obstacles and providing resources), creating an environment (that fosters motivation and creativity), and coaching/mentoring (helping team members identify their needs and intentions, and develop their potential). If the person or group assigned to a critical path task lack(s) the requisite skills for the job, the leader should have assigned the task to someone better suited to it. [Learn more… about the Five Key Roles of Successful Leadership [4] through my FREE e-course.]
How Micromanagement Can Hurt Your Team’s Chances for Success
Not everyone recognizes the damage that can be caused by micromanaging their staff. Here are a few reminders [5].
Micromanaging behavior…
Tells your team that you don't trust them or respect their work.
Strips away all sense of ownership that your team members have in their work.
Makes it difficult for you to recognize opportunities because you never have enough time to look around, let alone ahead.
Causes you (and others) to repeat work, wasting time that could be spent much more productively.
Can make your team members lose confidence in themselves and their ability to get the job done.
Makes everyone involved frustrated and resentful.
Can cause procrastination and time management disasters.
Prevents team members from developing the skills and knowledge they need to work autonomously.
Blinds you to the potential of individuals and team(s).
Drains your energy and can degrade your performance.
Creates “bottlenecks” in the work flow as everything must be approved by you before progressing.
Heightens your stress levels – you feel like the weight of the world rests on your shoulders.
As you can see, micromanagement can have a far-reaching impact on the success of the individuals and team(s) you lead, as well as on your own success. So the big question remains, are you a micromanager? Let’s take a closer look at whether or not you regularly engage in micromanaging behaviors in the next section.
Take-Aways:
Various aspects contribute to whether or not you cross the line from mentoring into micromanagement, but your motivation (intention) is primary among them.
The desire to meet productivity goals is the most insidious lure into the micromanagement trap.
Micromanagement most often occurs when there is a lack of: clarity, direction, resources, motivation, or required skills.
Signs of Micromanagement
In order to recognize when you are most vulnerable to crossing over the line into micromanagement, you must be able to recognize the telltale signs in your thinking and behavior. The most observable signs [5] include the following. You…
Resist delegating.
Immerse yourself in overseeing the projects of others.
Focus immediately on correcting tiny details instead of looking at the big picture.
Take back delegated work before it is finished whenever you find a mistake in it or if it isn’t progressing the way you want it to.
Discourage others from making decisions without consulting you.
If you have observed yourself engaging in any of these behaviors, you certainly have the potential to be a micromanager. Whether or not you’ve fully crossed the line and fallen into the trap depends on the circumstances, the perceptions of the people you lead, and (most of all) on your intentions.
Avoiding the Micromanagement Trap
Prevention is usually less expensive in the long run than trying to mitigate the negative consequences of micromanaging behavior after the fact. Start by putting your leadership house in order and proceed from a firm foundation into more advanced techniques that will help you avoid falling into the micromanagement trap.
Put Your Leadership House in Order
Before you begin worrying about whether or not you’ve crossed the line into micromanagement, it may help to quickly review your leadership foundation. Even if you feel that your foundation is solid, you may want to quickly scan this section to ensure you haven’t missed something important. After all, micromanagement may be only one among numerous other issues that you are facing. [1] [6] [7] [8]
Know your leadership strengths, style, values, and model. Make sure you have a clear grasp of who you are and what you stand for both as a person and as a leader. Ask yourself:
What are my personal values and my business ethics?
Which of my natural strengths has the potential to make me a better leader?
Is my leadership style more analytical, directive, administrative, collaborative, hands-on, or visionary? (You may explore your natural leadership strengths and style further by consulting: https://www.newleaderlaunchpad.com/program-center/harnessing-the-power-of-your-natural-leadership-style/
What is important to me?
What is my leadership story?
How reluctant am I to share information?
Does giving up control bother me?
Do I trust and respect the people I lead?
What you discover from this self-analysis may be very revealing about your leadership perspective, abilities, and skills. Share these insights about yourself with those in your organization who have a need to know (team members, managers, peers, etc.) – basically anyone with whom you will be interacting on a regular basis.
Articulate your vision, mission, and values. Successful leaders cultivate their ability to visualize and articulate the future of their group, team, and/or organization. Create, define, and share your vision, mission, and values.
Have a strategy. Strategic thinking is critical because it allows you and others to align the mission and vision with operations. A clear strategy allows the people you lead to measure their activities in terms of defined goals. Once your vision, mission, values and strategy are defined, it's time to execute.
Commit to hiring the right people. It's much easier to create a culture of accountability with people who hold themselves accountable. Remember, a leader is only as good as the people with whom they surround themselves. When hiring new members, consider whether or not the candidates “fit” the culture you’re attempting to foster or maintain.
Work on your coaching skills. Mentoring is great, but the goal is not simply to create clones of yourself. You have a responsibility to help your people develop to their own unique peak potential. Guide them in exploring that potential and encourage them to identify ways to grow.
Invest in your people. Provide more than just skills and product training. Create a development program for individuals that show potential. Base this program on empowering these individuals to make tough decisions. Intern programs are also effective as a platform for development.
Learn the right way to delegate responsibility. Find out and focus on the strengths of each team member; keep those strengths in mind as you delegate. “Stretch” your people’s abilities and knowledge by giving them just a bit more responsibility than usually expected — your faith in their ability will help inspire their growth. Hold them accountable for their commitments.
Bring clarity to communication. Work on sharpening your communication skills. Being able to clearly and succinctly describe what you want done (especially in terms of timeline and results) is extremely important. This makes it easier for others to perform well. Be open to questions and look for opportunities to educate and support your team.
Don’t forget, you need support too. While you are encouraging, engaging, and empowering others, you will need support all along the way. Seek out a coach or mentor to help you be the best leader you can be.
Building on Your Foundation
Okay, after shoring up your leadership foundation, you’ll want to broaden your focus in order to minimize the temptation to cross the line into micromanagement. Here are a few additional suggestions that will enhance your ability to resist falling into the trap:
Make people accountable to each other. There is nothing like peer pressure to drive behavior.
Create a skills assessment inventory for every key employee. Create a training and development matrix to track the overall competency of your group/organization. Include yourself in the assessment. Utilize skills assessment to make sure you have the right people in the right seats and to identify future potential leadership.
Accept that valid results happen in various ways. Remember, you may have a specific way of doing things, but it may not be the only way. As long as the individual or team is getting the results expected, give them praise. Your way may not be the best or only way.
Empower your people. Search for projects, issues, or challenges that you would normally tackle; then, create a project team or empower an individual to address each of them – do this even if you think you have the answer to a problem. When they're managing projects, give team members the freedom to make decisions, as well as make mistakes. You might encounter some initial hiccups, but offering autonomy will help your employees build their problem-solving and leadership skills.
Give people the resources they need to do the job. You cannot expect others to deliver if they don’t have the tools required.
Be accessible. Make yourself available to hear ideas, suggestions, and questions.
Foster a sense of community. People work best when they know they’re not isolated — that questions will be answered and problems can be solved. All achieve more through collaboration.
Create a climate of success. Let everyone know you are invested in their success. Reward, recognize, and show your appreciation for effort and hard work. Give credit where it is due. Use your every word and action to elevate your people and point them toward success.
Stop answering questions and start asking them. When a team member constantly asks questions, relying on you for direction as to the smallest details of their work, turn the tables on them. Start asking them for possible lines of investigation that they could pursue for answers. This not only gets them thinking, it gets them thinking about the bigger picture. By getting team members thinking beyond themselves, they begin to see the big picture with greater clarity and will get a better sense of how and when they can contribute.
Allow your people to fail. It’s hard to watch a team member make a mistake or fail. However, unless it is life-threatening or prohibitively expensive, making a mistake or failing can be an opportunity for “deep” learning – it engages the individual on multiple levels (physical, emotional, rational, etc.).
Consider doing a 360 review of you as a leader, or create an anonymous survey for team members to rate the entire management team (including you) as well as the company culture. By using an anonymous assessment, you may get more accurate feedback and gain greater insight into perspectives, motivators, and concerns.
Be Aware of Micromanagement Triggers
Your personal characteristics, preferences, and prejudices may entice you into micromanaging behavior. In addition, your inner micromanager can be triggered by the behaviors of those you lead. Here are four examples of such triggers [2]:
Lack of Inclusion. Your inner micromanager can be triggered when team members leave you open to a form of ‘blindsiding.’ They wait to tell you they have changed an existing plan until it’s too late to disagree or react. In essence, they “train” you to micromanage them by breaking trust with you and bypassing your involvement in a key decision. Countermeasure: Encourage team members to speak up if they have a better idea – but not at the last minute. Allow them to present their options and reasoning with enough time for discussion and decision. Reward those who behave appropriately to reinforce the positive behavior.
Lack of Follow-through. Individuals who frequently miss deadlines or commitments due to what I call a “conveniently faulty memory” may claim they forgot or were unaware of impending due dates. This excuse ranks right up there with “my dog ate my homework” and may trigger micromanagement behavior on your part. After the fifth or sixth similar issue, you will probably assume the employee is either completely overwhelmed or incompetent, suffers from a neurological issue, has zero organizational skills, or is employing passive-aggressive tactics. Countermeasure: Find a reminder system that works for you and your “forgetful” people. There are literally hundreds of methods and tools that can help. Collaborate with the members of your group to identify one or more methods that work for the group as a whole. Try a chosen method out, assess its effectiveness, and don’t be afraid to adjust or replace an approach if you don’t see improved results.
Lack of Acknowledgement. Consider people who seem to ignore your direct questions and requests. Maybe they thought your question was rhetorical. Maybe it just got buried among the thousands of emails they received that day. Maybe they are gathering information and feel they cannot answer until they’ve collected all the data. Whatever the reason, when those you lead do not acknowledge a question, they have likely pushed a button in your micromanager brain. Panic may set in – “Could they also be ignoring client questions and other key aspects of their job?” Molehills easily grow into mountains as you envision worst-case scenarios. Countermeasure: Request that all incoming requests from you be acknowledged, even if only to tell you that it may take some time to provide a complete answer. Feeling confident that the communication circuit is complete gives all parties peace of mind.
Lack of Adoption. One or more of your people either don’t notice (or refuse to adapt to) one of your operational recommendations. For example, a file naming convention, a new coding standard, or a process adjustment meant to optimize an activity. You believe your request/directive/approach to be logical, organized, and perhaps even elegant, but they either don’t appreciate or fail to adopt your brilliance for whatever reasons of their own. Countermeasure: If you have a unique or preferred way of doing something, encourage people to ask about it. You can then explain the thought process behind your approach. Your people will more likely adopt your approach or suggestion – or at least respect your right to choose it – once they understand the thought process behind it.
What to Do If You’ve Already Fallen into the Micromanagement Trap
Once you fall into the trap of micromanagement, you’re not doomed for all time. However, it will take some effort on your part to escape from this trap. When I find myself considering the possibility of micromanaging one of my team, I first take a look at what may be missing in the situation, what I may have forgotten to provide, and then look for ways to provide what is needed. [3] Take a look at the following process adapted from a process proposed by Alyssa Gregory in her excellent article on effective ways to stop micromanaging and become a better team leader. [9]
Step 1: Identify Your Insecurities
Issue: Recognize that you may be the problem. If the very thought of delegation causes you heartburn or if you’re a control freak, then chances are you’re already a fledgling micromanager. Many instances of micromanagement are directly related to insecurity on the part of the manager. You may be insecure about your ability to manage appropriately, or about your team members' ability to get the job done. You may worry that relinquishing control will only lead to disaster because no one can do the job as well as you can.
Resolution: Identify the source of the problem. Take a hard look at yourself and your organization. Ask an impartial third-party (such as a mentor or coach) to assess what's going on in your organization and with the delegation process. (It may simply come down to building up your level of confidence, so you can become a better leader.) Also take a look at your team members – their skills and experience, the work to be completed, and the communication that needs to take place. Ask yourself questions such as: Where is the biggest disconnect? What has you the most worried and is making you feel like you need to scrutinize every step along the way?
Expansion: Micromanagement can also be caused by inefficient and incomplete business processes. Make an assessment of the processes you and your organization use to organize and control the work flow. Even small process changes (to individual systems, processes and procedures) may pay big dividends. The more secure you feel about your infrastructure and process, the more likely you are to relax and allow your team members to do their jobs without you always looking over their shoulders.
Step 2: Make Sure You Are Hiring the Right People
Issue: If your team is comprised of members about whom you are not completely confident, and who may lack confidence in their own abilities, you are already on the path to a micromanagement disaster.
Resolution: Identify team members who fail to incite your confidence. Put a plan together to retarget them, retrain them for a new role, or to phase them out. When adding someone new to the team, assess their background, your current needs, and the team dynamic to ensure a good fit. Someone with potential may be a fit with proper training and coaching to build their skill and confidence levels so delegating to them becomes easier. Just remember, if you can’t trust and respect your team members, they will not feel empowered to excel, and you will continue to question their work. Hiring the right people for your team is a good start to relieving any concerns you may be experiencing.
Step 3: Learn How to Delegate Effectively
Issue: Delegation isn't easy; it often takes new leaders a while to understand why they should delegate and how to delegate effectively.
Resolution: You will never be able to grow your organization without help. Learn how delegation works and which of your behaviors you need to change in order to become an effective delegator. Pay special attention to recommendations made earlier in the “Avoiding the Micromanagement Trap” section. Identify a few tasks you currently handle that can be easily delegated to someone. Think about the time and skills needed for the job and then assign accordingly. [7]
Step 4: Let Go of “Perfection”
Issue: Part of the delegation process involves documenting what you want to accomplish and then transferring the knowledge needed for your team members to get it done. After that comes the hard part of delegation -- letting go and trusting that your team members will take the ball and run with it. This requires an understanding and acceptance that they may do it in a way completely different from how you would do it.
Resolution: Stop sweating the small stuff. When you allow yourself to get bogged down in the details, you're taking away time and energy from bigger-picture organizational objectives that could have a far greater impact on the bottom line. [7]
Start practicing restraint. You don't need to put your personal stamp on everything. Unless an individual’s work is in error, making changes simply to exercise your personal power, or because it’s not the way you would have done something, is a habit worth breaking. [11] Letting go of perfection means you need to decide what’s more important to you: having the work completed to "perfection" (the way you would do it), or having it completed successfully (whatever the approach taken). You may even be surprised to find that when you give your team members a little leeway, they discover new – and better – ways to do things.
Expansion: Another aspect that often comes into play is encouraging your people to let go of their own desire for perfection. Techies have a great respect for “doing things right” and for achieving a result that is “aesthetically pleasing.” This often leads them to overwork many problems/challenges in their search for perfection, rather than being satisfied with “good enough.” Hold discussions about perfection versus reality. Encourage them to articulate the scope of their work so they recognize the continuum between good enough and perfection (best it could be). Sometimes it helps if they define schedules and report status in terms of that continuum.
Step 5: Create a Strong Team Dynamic
Issue: A powerful and productive team develops when there is a desire to work together, pool skills and experience to accomplish more, and build off each other's strengths. This can't happen when micromanagement is involved.
Resolution: You can strengthen the team by taking a genuine interest in team members, their professional development, and the ideas they bring to the table. Encourage them to use personal initiative and allow them to run with their ideas. They will likely fail on occasion, but as long as you and they look upon failures as learning opportunities (and they don’t continue repeating the same failures), they will continue to improve and grow. In the end, you get a better return on investment and they are happier with the added trust and autonomy. By ramping up the team environment, allowing everyone to contribute, and providing recognition for a job well done, the temptation to micromanage can be further reduced.
Expansion: Keep the check-ins in check. Constantly inquiring about routine assignments rarely helps team members get them done any more efficiently. Provide clear directions up front, check in once for follow-up questions, and then trust your team members to do their jobs. If they fail to deliver as expected, discuss why and how things could be handled differently in the future, so the failure isn’t repeated next time. Hovering like a mother hen won’t change things; it will only aggravate. [7]
How to Deal with an Employee Who Accuses You of Micromanagement
Whether or not you’ve actually stepped over the line and fallen into the micromanagement trap, there will likely come a time when someone under your leadership accuses you of micromanaging them. How should you handle it? Journalist Kathryn Hatter has a reasonable five-step procedure for handling such situations. I recommend you consult her original article [10] but here are the highlights:
Step 1: Examine the situation as objectively as possible after the accusation is made. Look for root causes for the accusation and solicit feedback from multiple sources (second and third opinions).
Step 2: Consider reasons you may have for micromanaging. Are there trust issues? Is the person’s assignment on the critical path? Issues such as these may be triggering you to micromanage.
Step 3: Talk with the accuser about your managing style and any issues s/he has. Open the dialogue in a way that allows him/her to feel comfortable giving both positive and negative feedback about the work environment and your management style.
Step 4: Respond to the feedback with your concerns. Because you analyzed what motivates your micromanaging, you can tell your accuser why you feel compelled to hover closely in specific areas of managing.
Step 5: Make a plan for employee accountability to reduce the need for micromanaging. With this plan, your worker can get the space s/he needs to work independently while you have the accountability and reporting that you need to feel satisfied that goals are being met. Stick to the plan!
Conclusion
Micromanaging others is rarely a good idea, especially where technical professionals are concerned. Make time to assess your perspectives, your insecurities, and your performance. Most importantly, understand your motivation in adopting a specific management approach with particular individuals as well as with your group or organization. Prevention is less costly than mitigating the impact of micromanagement. Recognize the symptoms. If you’ve fallen prey to micromanaging perspectives or behaviors, take corrective action immediately. If you are uncertain how to do this, seek support from a trusted adviser (mentor) or coach in the form of feedback and recommendations. They may save you a lot of time and heartache along the way.
References
[1] A. Markman and L. Daskal, How Do I Avoid Being A Micromanager?, fastcompany.com, 22 April 2014. Accessed: July 2015. Accessed from: http://www.fastcompany.com/3029246/ask-the-experts/how-do-i-avoid-being-a-micromanager
[2] J. Palus, 4 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Micromanager, Inc.com (Blog: Tom Searcy), 19 March 2013. Accessed: July 2015. Accessed from: http://www.inc.com/tom-searcy/4-ways-to-stop-being-a-micromanager.html
[3] G. Tredgold, Don’t Micro Manage – Lead, evancarmichael.com. Accessed: July 2015. Accessed from: http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/8440/Dont-Micro-Manage-Lead.html
[4] Y. T. Ryan, Five Key Roles of Successful Leadership, Leader’s Edge Publishing, San Jose, CA, 2014. Access: https://www.newleaderlaunchpad.com/program-center/...
[5] E. Eyre, Avoiding Micromanagement: Helping Team Members Excel – On Their Own, Mindtools.com. Accessed: July 2015. Accessed from: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_90.htm
[6] R. Johnson, Empowerment - Ten Tips to Avoid Micro Management, evancarmichael.com. Accessed: July 2015. Accessed from: http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/4813/Empowerment--Ten-Tips-to-Avoid-Micro-Management.html
[7] C. Brooks, Are You a Control Freak? 6 Ways to Stop Micromanaging, Business New Daily, 1 July 2014. Accessed: July 2015. Accessed from: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6705-ways-to-stop-micromanaging.html
[8] M. Erb, How to Stop Micromanaging Your Team, Entrepreneur. Accessed: July 2015. Accessed from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/218028
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