Is Your Leadership Afflicted by ‘Micromanagement’?

Is Your Leadership Afflicted by ‘Micromanagement’?

 
We all like receiving feedback on our work. Positive feedback helps to improve, reduce errors, build on strengths, and is essential for a healthy working environment. But to have someone constantly correcting you or nitpicking at your work is far from healthy. Then it’s not feedback anymore, but transforms into this monstrous thing called ‘micromanagement’. New leaders or managers who have recently worked their way up through the ranks are often smitten by this syndrome.
 
Why do you think senior leaders micromanage? 
 
One reason could be lack of effective communication. It’s the responsibility of leaders to clearly express their expectations and provide necessary guidance to ensure that the team meets those expectations. Leaders should also pay heed to difficulties faced in performing delegated tasks and address those concerns appropriately. When team-members are aligned to the set goals and expectations, they are less likely to underperform and don’t require a nudge for day-to-day activities.
 
New leaders often struggle with their own insecurities and fear which is manifested in their micromanaging behavior. New leaders start feeling the heat that just because they are promoted, they need to be more productive and perfect in their work. Also, they are unable to make the mental shift from ‘doing’ to ‘delegating’ as they are unable to trust their subordinates. But sooner rather than later, a leader needs to find the confidence to empower people to get the job done. 
 
Then there are leaders who have the habit of going through every minute detail of employee output. Such leaders don’t want to give even the basic level of autonomy to employees to do their job. This stunts employee growth and reduces confidence levels. It also creates a claustrophobic working environment where employees are left uninspired, under-challenged and demotivated. 
 
Micromanagement not only kills employee productivity but also adversely affects the productivity of the micromanaging leader. That’s primarily because it’s humanly impossible to keep a close eye on every task as teams and projects grow and get larger. 
 
Micromanagement is the thief of your time, focus and energy. Can you allow it to steal from you, or will you defeat it?
 
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