There’s a dark side to delegation and that’s micromanagement.
Micromanagement is defined as managing with great or excessive control or attention to details. When is micromanagement okay? There are actually some key points when it is. Most managers are going to recognize these, and this will be a review.
Obviously, if deadlines are missed, you need to step in, as the manager, and get people back on track, find out what happened and, if necessary, plan the action for the individual to make sure that they’re able to get the work done.
You may also need to step in if a project is not going as planned, or employees are hitting milestones but still falling short of expected results.
If a team member’s skills aren’t up to the challenge, or if they don’t have the time, or the interest, then it’s up to the manager to step in to make sure the task is completed. This is crucial for health of the team, but also for the individual as well, since if the delegated role is simply beyond their skills, you might actually cause more damage by letting them fail than by stepping in. Whether you do the work yourself or, better yet, delegate to someone else, keep the original team involved so they can learn from the process.
If, however, a team member has the skills, the time, and the ability, and is just not willing to perform, then you need to look at the situation from a personnel perspective. Ask yourself what is causing the problem. What’s going on with this individual? Remember, even seemingly individual issues can cause problems for the team very quickly.
Of course, if a team member is tasked with a particularly sensitive file or job, you may want to stay hands-on since the threat of the information getting out, or the danger of there being a problem with it, is so high that safety and security is more important than ensuring that that person feels they have complete autonomy.
When is it not okay to micro-manage? Unfortunately this can be a bit of a gray area and a dangerous one, since when employees feel micromanaged, they tend to manifest this by being frustrated or even fearful.
Often, this leads individuals to not trusting their own judgment. Remember, whether it’s due to your second-guessing them, or to asking too many questions about how they are arriving at a particular end result, a team member who doesn’t trust himself will find it much harder to take on any other delegated tasks.
The most cited reason for why employees leave a company is poor management. They may feel that they don’t have enough control, or autonomy, or the ability to grow, but the good news is that these are all things a good manager can control.
If Micromanaging affects the mental health of the staff or the overall efficiency of the organization, it’s not okay. If you’re constantly undermining an employee’s decisions and performance, that behavior will inevitably affect their ability to perform, and it’s also going to impact the team dynamic. To see where you fall on the micromanaging spectrum, answer the seven questions below.
1. Do you have a hard time delegating tasks?
2. Generally speaking, do you think you can perform most of the tasks of your team better than they can?
3. Is it more efficient to do a job yourself, rather than give the job to a team member?
4. Do you allow your staff to learn from their mistakes?
5. Do you spend an inordinate amount of time overseeing single projects?
6. Are you as overworked as your team?
7. Does your team always check with you before doing anything?
Did you answer all the questions above honestly? Remember, it is not all black and white.