How to Prevent Micromanagement at Work
Have you ever felt micromanaged at work? Are you worried that as a leader you micromanage your employees? On this episode of Leadership Hustle, Andrea and Michelle guide you through ways to avoid micromanagement and how everyone can stay informed and updated on weekly tasks. Learn the ways to identify micromanaging tendencies while also learning how to address them in a professional and effective way all on this brand new episode of Leadership Hustle!
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How to Avoid Micromanaging While Still Delivering Results
How can you avoid micromanaging in your company? Many organizations don’t even realize they have micromanagers in their teams or that they are micromanaging others! How can you avoid this from happening? And if you already recognize that you are micromanaging your team, how can you stop it? In this Leadership Hustle episode, Andrea Fredrickson and Michelle Hill go through the steps you must take to stop micromanaging from ruining your operations.
Avoid Micromanaging and Being Pushy
Effective leadership involves balancing providing guidance and allowing team members to excel in their areas of expertise. Micromanagement can hinder productivity and demotivate employees; it’s annoying and ineffective. By avoiding micromanaging and adopting a more trusting approach, managers can create a positive work environment.
Key Point to Avoid Micromanaging
So, how do you avoid being an annoying and pushy manager that demotivates your team? These are the key actions you can take today.
Ask for Updates
As a manager, it's important to stay informed about the progress of projects and tasks. However, constantly hovering over your team members can be counterproductive and may lead to frustration. Instead, establish a regular rhythm for updates, such as requesting them on a weekly basis. By doing so, you give your team members the autonomy to update you when it makes sense for their workflow.
Explain Why You Need Updates
Provide a clear explanation of why you need these updates. By understanding the purpose behind the updates, your team will see the value in sharing information with you. Clearly communicate how these updates contribute to decision-making, resource allocation, or project success. It helps create a sense of purpose and demonstrates how their work directly impacts the larger goals. Set expectations with your team about what you need to know, when you need to know it, and why; this way, your team can keep you updated without feeling pressured.
Established Due Dates
To ensure timely completion of tasks and projects, it's essential to establish due dates. Discuss with your team members when you expect to receive specific information, reports, or the final product. This allows for better planning and coordination within the team. Be realistic with your expectations and give some flexibility. This way, you won’t need to be on top of your team 24/7.
Established a Shared Mechanism for Milestones
To effectively track progress and stay updated, establish a shared mechanism for milestones and tracking. This could be a project management tool, a CRM system, or even a simple spreadsheet that allows everyone to input and access relevant information. Having a centralized platform ensures transparency and facilitates collaboration among team members as well as accessing information without having to overwhelm your team.
Create Clarity
In addition to setting expectations for updates and due dates, it's important to establish clear expectations for quality, deliverables, and communication. Clearly communicate what standards you expect from your team members and how you prefer to receive updates or reports. This clarity helps avoid misunderstandings and ensures everyone is aligned on what needs to be accomplished.
Let People Be Experts
Recognize and respect the expertise and capabilities of your team members. Trust that they are capable of performing their roles effectively. Avoid excessive interference or micromanagement, and instead, create an environment where they feel safe to excel in their space. Empower them to make decisions and provide guidance when needed. When people feel trusted and valued, they are more likely to take ownership of their work and deliver exceptional results and updates without you asking for them.
Don’t Mix Preference with Procedures
Are you mixing preferences with procedures? Allowing personal biases to influence the way tasks are performed can hinder efficiency and end up in micromanaging. It's important to recognize that procedures are designed to ensure effectiveness and consistency in achieving desired outcomes, not to do things a certain way you like. Procedures are based on best practices and industry standards; they are not meant to cater to personal preferences but rather to achieve optimal results. Allow your team members the autonomy to carry out their responsibilities in a way that they find most efficient and effective. Trust their expertise and respect their judgment.
Start Seeing Results Today
Ready to see the results you want in your organization and elevate your leadership to the next level? Need some help implementing effective leadership in your organization? Contact Revela Group today for tips and leadership mentoring.
About the Hosts
Andrea Fredrickson
Andrea Fredrickson is a thought leader and consultant at Revela, an organization based in Omaha, Nebraska specializing in the development of leaders, culture alignment, and business strategy for private and family businesses of all sizes. Revela is one of the region's most experienced thought challengers, helping individuals and companies find their greatness. Andrea has built an amazing team by believing that fundamentally people want to be successful and become better versions of themselves.
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Andrea has degrees in education, management, and business. She is the author of Insight Unseen; How to lead with 20/20 business vision. She helps people see things differently, self-reflect, and never stop looking for ways to improve themselves on a personal and professional level. Andrea has spent more than 30 years researching and developing methods to help people communicate and lead more effectively.
When Andrea isn’t working with clients, you’ll find her spending time with her family & friends and making memories by exploring new cities.
Michelle Hill
Michelle Hill is a master facilitator and coach at Revela, an organization specializing in the development of leaders and aligning the culture of privately held and family businesses of all sizes. Revela is one of the region's most experienced thought challengers, helping individuals and companies find their greatness.
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An ambitious leader, Michelle has the natural ability to create forward momentum to build teams and get results. She inspires others to look within themselves and to challenge the status quo. She helps create high-performing environments. Michelle brings a diverse background: operations, employee development, and sales in the steel, hospitality, and consulting industries.
Outside of work, you will see her competitive side engaged in her daughter’s sports and ISU athletics. She loves life, her four-legged companions, and captures all the moments through her camera’s lens.
TRANSCRIPT
Andrea Frederickson: Do you have micro managers inside your organization? Most companies do. In this episode of the Leadership Hustle, we'll give you some tips and techniques to help your managers become less controlling. Hello and welcome to the Leadership Hustle. For executives whose companies are growing fast and need leaders who are ready. So we've got the managers. They're everywhere, right? They are.