Here goes.
If all of your “priorities” are of the same importance, you might be a micromanager.
If you need to measure the ROI in measuring your ROI, you might be a micromanager.
If you seek the opinion of 17 experts before making small decisions – and then disagree with their opinions – you might be a micromanager.
If you prepare your tax return before handing it off to your accountant, you might be a micromanager.
If you walk around your office scrutinizing the wallpaper’s effect on your feng shui, you might be a micromanager.
If you adjust the temperature in your office to save 30 cents on heating while you’re out at lunch, you might be a micromanager. (Also, this tactic doesn’t work.)
If you lose sleep over fonts, you might be a micromanager.
If you don’t allow your officemates to listen to anything other than “your station,” you might be a micromanager.
If you can’t figure out why your last three employees went out for lunch and never returned, you might be a micromanager.
I’m kidding, mostly.
However, micromanagement is extremely unproductive and here’s why.
- If you constantly ask people to help you and then tell them they don’t do it right, they’ll stop helping you. If you want something done a certain way, create a map of how you want things done so there are no surprises. Do you want all of your memos to go out with a hot pink 16pt Arial font? Then say so. Creating a clear step by step process for things eliminates the need for micromanagement. (Need someone to help create processes? We do that!)
- There is a thin line between “monitoring” and being impossible and never happy. If you don’t trust your assistants and/or employees, you’re hiring the wrong people. Standing over their shoulder to make sure they’re not reading personal emails on your time creates discord. Chances are they aren’t reading them anyway. However, you’re wasting your own valuable time watching. You could be doing something else.
- Your staff will never improve. Every single skill you have gained in your life required practice, including learning how to walk and talk. Without room to learn, grow, and make mistakes, you’re not allowing your employees and assistants to reach their full potential.
- Excessively scrutinizing and re-doing things takes up time you could use to be doing something else. Isn’t that the reason you took on help in the first place? Because you didn’t have enough time?
No matter how you slice it, micromanaging hurts your business. Successful business owners know how to prioritize their own To Dos based on what’s best for their business and successfully delegate to get things done efficiently.
If you’re micromanaging, you’re not really delegating at all. You’re just adding more to your already full plate.
Take a look at your management style. Are you ready to let go and let grow? If so, give me a ring. Let’s talk about how AngCo can help.
Yours in the adventure,
Angie & Team AngCo
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