Micromanagement and Delegation

Key Messages:

You may think you are delegating, when in fact it is micromanagement dressed up in sheeps clothing
A 'snooperviser' is one of the most demoralizing leaders to work with
True delegation is the key to your success both professionally and personally

Too much micromanagement and no delegation are the signs of mismanagement and an unhealthy manager. As a person moves up the leadership ladder the need for him/her to get their goals achieved through others becomes one of the most important skills they can fine tune.

Trust is one of the essential elements in all high performing teams. True delegation is one of the core indicators of trust levels between the leader and the led. If your team seems frustrated and morale is low you may do well to take a good look at whether or not you may be guilty of micromanaging.

Signs You are Micromanaging

You've got high turnover. When people can't do their job properly, their talents are being wasted and they aren't learning and growing they'll up and leave. Anyone who is capable and ambitious will not hang around allowing someone to block their progress.

You've got low morale. People who don't feel they can contribute in a meaningful way lose their loyalty and commitment to the objectives of the organization they find themselves in. The feeling that they can make a difference will have withered up and died and lethargy and apathy have set in

Your demotivated team is providing lower quality work. People give up and just decide to go along with whatever you want, simply because it's easier.

Productivity, Profitability and New Business Development are All Limited. Because you are spending so much time 'working in the business', you don't have time to 'work on the business'. You'll be bogged down amongst the trees and won't have the time to use your creative talents to run the business and create the bright future the organization needs.

You focus on the wrong priorities. Overwhelmed at the volume of work to get done may cause you to work on the easier tasks at the expense of the bigger, longer range tasks and thinking that drive business success

You Career Progress Has Stalled. You will not have developed the talent and bench-strength of future leaders within your team so one to two successors are ready to take your place should new opportunities open up.

You're burnt out and/or your family life is stressful You work longer hours, weekends etc, simply trying to get it all done. There'll be an absence of flow in your life because you won't have time to work on the tasks that you love to do and in which your strengths can shine

Be Warned! This is Micromanagement and Not Delegation:

Only giving out superficial, simplistic, boring, unappealing, tasks

Nothing of significance can be decided by the delegatee unless s/he obtains approval

Providing detailed directions and methodologies, thereby limiting the ownership and creativity input of the delegatee

Little if any chance for the delegatee to learn from completing the assignment

Taking back the task at the first hint of trouble, thereby failing the delegatee by not allowing him/her to learn from experience

Requiring detailed reports on how the work will be done

Focusing on procedural minutia and trivia rather than overall results, quality and performance

Blaming the delegatee when something goes wrong (Read here how this relates to your level of self-eseem

Turn it around: From Micromanagement and To Delegation

Give out assignments that challenge and enable the delegatee to grow beyond their current skill set and which professionally develops them

Give people the authority to make decisions and deliver the results required

Spend time with the team understanding the values and principles that the team operate by so that when results are delivered they are done so in a way that enables the individuals and the organization to walk proud

When something goes wrong, focus on learning what could be done differently next time and develop solutions to enable the delegatee to resolve the mistake

Spend time setting goals with the team and planning with them how they might like to achieve the goals

Establish the criteria by which success will be judged

Create an environment by which vigorous and open debate of ideas and methodologies can occur

Set up systems that monitor performance and measure progress

Build relationships with team members that inspire them to give of their best for you and their team

Become a better you, through continuous learning and development

The 'snooperviser' is one of the most frustrating and challenging of all leaders to work for. Please make use of the "From Micromanagement and to Delegation" checklist to enable your team, your team members and yourself to step into all the potentialities that you could be.

Do You Find Yourself Only Micromanaging One Person ...?

and delegating well to all others in your team.

This suggests that the problem may belong with the team member. Maybe they have under-delivered, broken promises or just aren't quite at the skill level required to completely hand over the particular assignment. Learn how to identify the causes of underperformance and what to do about it