Most people, when hear the word micromanagement, have some fear attached to it and they are ready to avoid a company at any cost that has such a culture. Micromanagement is the style where the manager closely observes or controls the work of his employees or subordinates. He does that to ensure that all the tasks are performed in a precise way.
Micromanagement is good and necessary, sometimes
Micromanagement is generally considered a negative term and it does not sit quite right with most people. Like the rest of us, you as a leader would know why not to micromanage, but it is equally important to know why to micromanage too. The truth is, great managers use a combination of micromanaging and hands-off approaches. For an organization, workforce diversity, business challenges and international competition can get overwhelming. Sometimes, this calls for micromanaging but as a great leader, you need to know when to back off and give your employees space.
Situations that call for micromanaging
When you are changing your strategy. In this case, leaders have to closely provide direction to the team until everybody gets a hang of it.
When the company is taking a new endeavor. When your company is launching a new product or service, this requires close supervision as the business is moving into a new territory.
When there is a new employee, leader or unit. When any of these new individuals become a part of your company, they need training, advice and proper mentoring till they adjust to their new roles. This might require reviewing the projects in detail, setting priorities and even interpret situations.
When a project continues to linger. There are times when things don’t get done. If you have delegated clear responsibilities and things are lingering, this can cost you money. This calls for intervention as you have to identify the problem and strictly order everybody to get their job done.
When a customer registers a complaint. Whenever a serious problem is reported by a customer, a leader has to intervene to get the event investigated and fix the problem. This might mean that you need to change your process or improve customer service techniques.
When micromanaging needs to stop?
Whenever you are micromanaging, you should always be careful that you don’t stay too long in the details of the work of your employees since there are some dangers of this management style too. Micromanagement needs to stop when it is affecting the productivity of your employees. Some employees even quit because of such a culture. If these are the consequences you are seeing as a result of your micromanaging your employees, it is time you take up a new approach.
Remember one thing, when you are not micromanaging that does not mean you won’t be communicating with your employees. That should not be the only way you talk to your employees and know what your staff is doing. If your close supervision is required in every single task, that means you don’t have the right employees or there is something wrong with your workflow.
