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Micromanagement, the dark side of delegation.

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.

If deadlines are missed, the manager must step in and get everyone back on track, find out what happened and, if necessary, create a plan of action for the individual or group to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

If a project is not going as planned, or they are hitting milestones but the results are not what were expected, again, you’ll need to step in and help manage that back to the results that are needed.

If a team member is not able to perform because they don’t have the skills, the time, or maybe the interest, then as the manager you need to step in to make sure that that task gets completed. This is important for the overall health of the team, but also for the individual. If the delegated role is beyond their skills, you might cause more damage by letting them completely fail than stepping in. You can turn the experience into a training experience and get the work done either by doing it yourself or preferably delegating to someone else, but have them stay involved so they can continue to learn from the process.

However, if a team member is simply not willing to perform, despite the fact that they have all the skills necessary, then you need to look at the situation from a personnel point of view. What’s going on with this individual? Keep in mind that individual issues can cause problems with a team very quickly.

And, of course, if a team member is responsible for a sensitive file or job, you may want to stay hands-on simply because if that information got out or if there was a problem with it, the risk would be higher than ensuring that that person had complete autonomy.

But when is it not okay to micro-manage? This is actually a gray area that managers have trouble managing. When employees are feeling micromanaged, they tend to manifest this by feeling 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 number one reason employees leave their jobs is bad management. Whether they feel they don’t have the control, the autonomy, or the ability to grow that they’d like, the good news is that these are all things a 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. Do you feel it is more efficient to do the 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 unusual amount of time overseeing single projects?

6. Are you overworked and your team?

7. Does your team always check with you before doing anything?

Did you answer honestly? Remember, it’s not all black and white.

Last 5 posts by Lisa Symons, Symon Says Communication

• Five Steps to Successful Project Delegation - May 22nd, 2008
• Managing Your Project Risk - April 17th, 2008

Tags: Time Management