Micromanagement, more than any other leadership style, can destroy morale, break trust, and disempower employees. The impact is that engagement will go down and take productivity with it. Once this happens, it takes an extreme amount of effort to rebuild team morale and trust. Yet most micromanagers don’t even recognise themselves as such. Those new to a leadership position, transferring from a technical to a management role, going from a small to a larger team and those modeling a previous (incompetent) manager are most at risk. If you are not confident in your role, chances are, you may start to exhibit these behaviours without even knowing. Here are 8 signs that you may be micromanaging without knowing:
- You “tell” under the disguise of “suggesting” and “advising”
- You instruct rather than listen
- You rarely ask questions
- You constantly monitor your team’s work
- You want to be cc’d and updated regularly on everything
- You focus on small details rather than strategic objectives
- You disempower employees by getting involved in projects that they can easily handle
- Make changes without engaging ALL the stakeholders
The impact on you is that some employees will become overly reliant on you and you will spend more time doing others work. The time you spend working will increase and that will create more stress.
If this sounds like you, adding coaching to your skill set will help you avoid these pitfalls. At Think Agile leadership, we teach you a leadership mindset, how to listen without judging and how to ask questions to empower your employees to come up with creative and innovative solutions. Coaching is the only leadership skill that transcends all generations and cultures. Join our next cohort and become the best leader you can be.
