Poorvi AroraEngagement Manager| DoItLeanPune, Maharashtra, India
As a leader/manager do you trust your employees or do indulge ending up micromanaging?
There are many factors which defines the trust level based on individual’s experiences:
• Sincerity: How honest, true, and real the individual is.
•Transparency: How transparent is your team while sharing the problems with you. Have you created the environment wherein the individuals feel free to discuss problems at length without being judged and scared?
•Competency/Skillset: This is something which the individual possesses and is showcased as an output, whether deliverables are upto the benchmark or suffice the definition of quality in the project. As an individual one should be able to acknowledge the gaps and work on them.
• Open communication: This is very imperative factor which enables the team to have trust on each other. Team should be open to communicate honestly and often.
• Empathic: The members of the team should be seen as people working together to achieve the goal defined instead of resources being utilized for the same. This understanding comes when you practice being empathetic.
As a leader we must ensure the team members have trust by cultivating the culture wherein members:
• Listen more often to each other
• Take the feedbacks as a constructive one
• Focus on soft skills
• Honest and Transparent
If the members have trust on each other which in turn implies the management/ leader has trust and do not require micro-managing.
Micromanaging do not have a positive impact in most of the scenarios and results in:
1. Decreases the productivity
2. Quality is deteriorated
3. Creativity cannot be expected
4. Damages trust
5. Employee retention rate is impacted and many more.
In a complex project initially micromanaging proves to be a plus as in proper communication and guidance is required. Also, in the scenarios wherein, the individuals are novice and are at initial level of learning curve.
As a leader/manager we may need to understand the complexity of the project, learning curve of the team members, skillset and experiences based on which the level of micromanagement and trust can be entailed out.
Thoughts are welcomed Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Lack of trust could be a cause for micromanagement but in my personal experience organizational culture is a key component to determine a leadership style too. So, "I am me and my circumstance' were words of the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset. Saving Changes...
Good reminders, Poorvi. The only assertion I have a concern with is the statement that micro-managing is a plus in the initial stages of a complex project. If anything, the more complex a project, the more we need to effectively harness the creativity within our team and micro-management will hinder that. It is one thing for a leader to guide or be directive, but that doesn't automatically imply micro-management as I can be firm on the direction we need to take but trust the team to get us there.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Hi Poorvi,
good article.
Agree with Kiron that we should refrain from working at full throttle on the project, if we have not established a basic level of trust. One step after the other.
Micromanaging might be OK in the initial phase if it is not primarily intended to create final deliverables but to coach team members and develop practices for the project.
Thomas Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
In my view micromanagement results from unclear expectations. I agree with all your 'factors' but first make sure the team and each individual knows what is expected of them. The manager has to know what she expects, the team needs to know what's expected and the individuals need to know their particular role. Everyone needs to understand what the deliverables are, including their authority to achieve those deliverables, as well as the consequences of not delivering.
Micromanagement kicks in when you are not getting what you expected and you lay the blame on others (your favourite response is to "do it yourself"). This becomes the 'consequence' and, as this becomes known, the whole team plays the game. You say "It's not what I want, I'll do it myself". They say "We can never please her anyway so why make excessive effort to get it right - let her do it".
As to the early stages - that's what sets the project culture. It's easier to do it right from the beginning than fix it later. Saving Changes...
I would disagree that micromanaging early in the project is necessarily good and leads to better communication nor guidance. Some of that depends on your knowledge of the team members and their behaviors.
I often start out by providing as clear of instructions as I can, what are the requirements and objectives, and then judge my level of involvement by the responses from the team.
Some team focals will provide exactly what I need, if not better quality and higher detail than I requested. Others will demonstrate they need a lot more personal attention.
I try not to overly burden those who show that they can manage their own workflows effectively. When people show me that I can trust their intent but their knowledge level may be lower and they need more help, I will gladly provide it and grow the team.
If they show me that they're not being team players and either I don't trust their intent or that they don't listen and won't follow directions, they tend to get the kind of "help" that becomes micromanagement. Saving Changes...
