Micromanaging is the most common source of high-stress levels and dread in the workplace.
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A hostile leadership style also lowers the morale of a team, which ultimately leads to poor productivity.
It’s the worst enemy of efficiency and teamwork.
With my years of experience as a Business Coach, I’ve learned that no business leader ever wants to be a micromanager — at least consciously. In fact, to be a revolting leader who everyone hates is something most leaders fear the most.
The problem is that the distinction between an effective manager and a micromanager is at times unclear because one might find it hard to resist the temptation due to their passion to achieve their goals. Sometimes, leaders just don’t trust their people enough for them not to interfere and constantly annoy everyone.
Below are some classic symptoms to check if you’re a stress-inducing business leader.
Do you often use any excuse just to call everybody for a long meeting? And do these meetings have nothing to do with work productivity or achieving immediate goals? Do you often require everyone’s presence even when what you’re supposed to discuss is only relevant to a few?
This is a typical indication of a micromanager. When you end up just wasting valuable time and resources just to get across a message that could’ve been disseminated through email or discussed at a later time, you’re only killing efficiency and momentum.
It’s normal to want to know what everybody is doing, especially during critical times wherein everything has to be perfect to avoid losing something huge. But if it’s always causing you paranoia even on a regular day, then you’re probably preoccupied with making sure everything is done your way.
That probably also means you’re always giving instructions without giving a chance to your team to contribute ideas. You’re always breathing down their necks to see if your plans are carried out exactly the way you want them. Eventually, you’ll end up crushing your team’s creativity and self-worth.
If you think that your team’s work is always second-rate to yours and that only you have the best approach to any task, that’s a big problem. Your team hates you, without a doubt.
Having this kind of mentality will cause your actions to always manifest that everyone around you is poor at their job, and that they always need to depend on you to get things done. You’re not allowing them the chance to use their own brain juice and competence to make a valuable contribution. You make decisions based on your own view of things, believing that your team’s opinions don’t count.
Business leaders should have a different set of daily tasks compared to team members because there are more important things to plan for and decide on. However, if you’re regularly overloaded with minor chores that could’ve been easily assigned to other people, that’s not productive.
For true leaders, the willingness to delegate tasks is a natural thing. A lack of faith in your team’s capabilities and bearing the brunt of the work will only cause your team’s resentment toward you. You may have the best intentions at heart, but without proper feedback and guidance, you may end up crossing over to becoming a dreaded micromanager.
BIOGRAPHY Leaving behind a lucrative career in Sales and Customer Services in a variety of industries, Jas Darar joined ActionCOACH East Midlands as a Business Coach in 2007.
Mr. Darar is an experienced campaigner and has an extremely successful track record in sales, marketing, customer services, retention and team building. In one business, he grew revenues by 830% in one year.
Working in various industries has given Mr. Darar an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist for businesses in the East Midlands, whether they be small or large organisations.
Mr. Darar’s experience is diverse with his career taking him through many industries, including wholesale, retail, the service industry, recruitment, banking, and telecommunications.
Contact the Op-Ed editor Ted Blackwater at tedblackwater@poandpo.com ■
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