Reform your micromanaging ways

Summary: Are you micromanaging your employees? If so, you are creating human robots. Reform your ways!

Have you found yourself giving a person a job to do and then following up constantly? You know what I mean, at each step along the way you are asking questions or you go back to them and say “don’t forget about….”. Maybe you are doing this because they are new or because you KNOW how to do it and want to be absolutely positive it’s done right.  Or possible you are an entrepreneur who has an employee for the first time. Whatever the reason or excuse you have…it’s called micromanaging.

The problem with micro managing, besides that the people who work with you find it annoying,  what you are really doing is taking away their accountability.  After all if you’re telling him/her what to do and checking on every step, what your saying is not only do I not trust you if I’m gonna make you not responsible for your work.  I am responsible.

Therefore is it is no surprise that micromanaging is never a good technique and why people get frustrated. People want to have a sense of purpose and want to be responsible. Every time you micromanage and do not not allow this to happen, you creating a human robot. Human robots don’t need to think, they only need to processing information. With that philosophy is it no wonder micromanaging is a failure.

How do you avoid this? Train and coach your people to success, ask questions, have them think for themselves and be available for their questions.

Be a reformed micro-manager!