Micromanagement rarely works. A good manager hires people who are perfectly capable of managing themselves, and lets them do brilliant work. Rather than micromanaging, consider setting up "terms of leadership," for example, ask your team members to send daily or weekly reports via email, ask them to write their own job descriptions every six months, conduct performance reviews more frequently—these are all ways of obtaining the information you need to manage your team without hovering. And while a good manager doesn't micromanage, a good manager does keep up with what his or her employees accomplish, ensures they are empowered to take charge of their own projects, and that they have the resources they need to do their job. We have a roundup of resources for you (managers, supervisors, or leaders-to-be) with some great ideas for empowering your employees!
As a manager or leader, do you let your people assume more responsibility when they are able? Do you know when that is, or do you keep telling yourself that they aren’t ready yet?
Your employees understand their jobs. They know their tasks, roles, and functions within the organization, and it’s time for you to let them do what they need to do to get the job done. But there is a critical point that is often missed: It isn’t possible for a leader to “empower” someone to be accountable and make good decisions. People have to empower themselves. Your role is to encourage and support the decision-making environment, and to give employees the tools and knowledge they need to make and act upon their own decisions. By doing this, you help your employees reach an empowered state.
We all have a role to fulfill, but the question is are we allowed to do our best work? Are we encouraged to connect to doing what it takes to be as effective as possible, and most importantly, are you inspired to do it, to do whatever it takes?
Contribution doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I know it’s easy to feel insignificant inside the bowels of a big corporation, but if you are good at your job, then you are making change in some way. To separate the two is impossible.
