Are You Micromanaging?

As a manager, you want your staff performing at their peak. To some, that means pushing employees to their breaking point. To the best leaders, it means inspiring workers to be productive and successful. If your employees keep looking over their shoulder and finding you there, you may see a decrease in effectiveness. Ask yourself if you are micromanaging your team. Here are some of the signs.

Reviewing and Redoing

If you find yourself double-checking employee work, that’s normal. If you’re triple checking and find yourself redoing parts of the task yourself, you might be overdoing it. Take a hard look at what tasks your employee can do unsupervised or successfully without revision and give them some space to do so.

Detail-Obsessed

Tinkering with every sentence of a brief, or doing basic tasks that aren’t in your job description? You’re micromanaging. The art of delegation takes time to learn, but it is your friend. You should be able to assign a task to someone else, trust them to complete it, and move forward with your responsibilities. You can provide guidance and answer questions, but if you’re delegating it, trust that your staff can handle it. Wasting your time down in the weeds may mean your most crucial duties are being neglected.

If you’re experiencing some of the negative side effects of micromanaging, such as low employee morale and turnover, look at your leadership style and consider taking a step back. Also consider the effectiveness of your staff. If you’re struggling to see progress, don’t micromanage: make a change. Consider bringing in new or seasonal staff to bolster your productivity.

For more insight on how you can inspire your team to succeed, check out SmartTalent. Our staffing specialists can help you change your leadership approach, as well as help you find quality candidates to fill out your team. Spend less time sifting through resumes and more time doing the work that matters with help from SmartTalent.