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You have assigned important tasks to your rock star virtual assistants and have given them a deadline. Now, do you really let her do them work or do you keep sending them emails to check on their progress? If so, you might need to learn how to micromanage less.
How Do I Know If I Micromanage?
In business, micromanagement is when a manager or executive closely controls or observes the work of his or her team member. Micromanagement usually has negative connotations since this depicts excessive attention and control to details. Every situation and employee are under the thumb or the controller.
A manager can be considered as micromanager if he or she displays the following signs:
- Resists delegating
- Is obsessed with overseeing other people’s projects
- Constantly correcting even the tiniest details rather looking at the big picture
- Asking for delegated works before these are finished to find errors or mistakes on them
- Discouraging individuals from making decisions without even consulting them
Reasons to Stop Micromanaging
No one really likes to be micromanaged because this is demoralizing and frustrating. Yet, some managers cannot seem to help themselves. It’s true that dealing with a controlling boss who can’t simply trust his or her subordinates can be tough, but what if you are actually the one doing the micromanaging? Once you start delegating and stop micromanaging, the following will occur.
- Empowering your employees with decisions boosts morale and productivity
One of the good reasons why you need to stop micromanaging your employees is because they also need to decide for themselves. Your “subordinates”, employees, or freelance partners are more likely to do their work well if they have the freedom to make the calls, or, at least, have a voice on what they are doing.
- Helping employees excel on their own frees up your time
Micromanagers take hands-on attitudes and attention to details to the extreme. This is probably because of their control-obsessed attitude that makes them more driven to push all the people around them to success. Micromanagers also risk disempowering colleagues and ruining their confidence, hurting their performance and making them feel frustrated to the extent that they quit. If you are micromanaging, this will backfire. Encourage and equip your employees to excel on their own and your stress levels will go down as a result.
- Creating more harmonious relationships to grow your business
For the sake of your business, you need to stop micromanaging your teams. This can cause gaps and bring down the morale of your team by establishing an unwanted tone of distrust. This also limits the capacity of the team to grow. When everyone is empowered with confidence from the leader, they are more likely to pass that on to other team members and pull their own weight. People who are appreciated always go above and beyond, thus improving your bottom line.
