Business Leadership 18: Micromanagement & Leadership

This continues our series describing leadership roles and traits that improve your business

Technology provides managers and business owners with more information than anytime in history. Technology tells how many calls or transactions each employee handles, how long it took, and sales results. Owners can monitor private emails sent on company equipment and on company time. Software tracks wasted material, wasted time, and wasted effort. Too many managers use the information to micromanage their employees.

Examples of Micromanaging

Micromanagement includes exacting definitions of the tasks performed by an employee including exactly when and where they will perform the tasks. Let me share a few examples:

• My first boss out of college told me that as manager with sale responsibilities, I did not have to open or close the office. Yet, he called me at the office at 8am and 5pm every day.
• Another manager of multiple locations timed exactly how long it took to drive between each location. If staff took 10 minutes longer than his estimate, they had to report why it took longer.
• Another manager asked his employees to record what they did each 15 minutes so he could monitor their activity. Production dropped by 20%.

Pros of Micromanaging

Both of these managers justified their behavior

• Their employees could not deceive or take advantage of them
• They felt a sense of control over the lives of their workers
• They pushed their employees to perform better
• They enjoyed a sense of satisfaction that they managed well

Cons of Micromanaging

They also experienced negative consequences. Their employees

• Reciprocated the lack of trust and felt no loyalty to their supervisor
• Performed worse than empowered employees in other divisions
• Complained about their supervisor to other workers, clients, and suppliers
• Did exactly what they were told and nothing more
• Left the negative environment as soon as possible

In addition, micromanaging requires an inordinate amount of time and attention by the manager. He or she must keep everyone busy, because they robbed the employees of initiative or proactivity.

Monday we explore the pros & cons of leading employees with clear expectations & rewards