Being a manager we never like to be called a micro manager, but many times situationsforce us to practice this controversial management theory. Everyone says if you are micromanaging your team then you are a bad manager, but is it really true?
Let’s talk about it further. No one like micro management and it also not create leaders out of your team, it also de-motivates team members. But it’s a part of management and you can’t ignore it, no matter if you are a micro manager or not; Let us see when it is good and when to use and when not.
1. Never use when your team members are responsible and skilled enough to plan their work:
If your team members understand the importance of project and know very well what is on stake then they don’t need a micro manager but a manager who can trust their abilities. Manager need to just assign tasks and timeline and leave everything on them how they do assigned tasks on time. If you try to micro manage them they will not be working to their full potential because of demotivation and stress
2. Don’t let your fear assume that they won’t work hard:
Occasionally, there are tight deadlines and manager has a fear regarding the deadlines. They assume in fear that our team members won’t perform well and we have to jump and see everything closely what team members are doing. This is not right. If you are not sure about your team members capability then give them calculated time to assess if they are responsible enough and understand project importance or not. If they don’t then micro-manage them otherwise let them work how they manage to get work done within timeline.
3. You realise we might miss deadline, micro-manage if necessary:
As a manager you are tracking the project progress as per project plan and you just realise things are not getting along to complete the tasks within time line. You should instantly talk to team members and if they are lacking in their time management then become a micro manager until things get on track. Constant micro-management doesn’t have any good outputs in long run.
4. Your team members are not efficient in their task management:
There are some team members who might be relatively new and have less experience with tight deadlines. So we can’t rely on these members that they will manage their task and will complete everything within timeline. You have to micro manage them and in fact they like this attention and guide from the manager. It motivates and teaches them how they can be a better resource and reach that independent level where they no longer needed micro management practices.
5. Team members are not motivated enough to understand importance:
Sometimes, team kick start the project with a good pace but things gets slows down in the middle of project due to several reasons. Most of the times main reason is that they doubt their abilities and assume the deadlines are unrealistic. Here you have to spot that point and try to motivate them and micro-manage them for some time to give them trust that they can do it within the set time. Once they are on track, let them work and use their mind to manage time to finish tasks
Above points shows that if you are using micro management practices all the time then you are doing something wrong and you have to stop this and try to be a good manager. You have to know the strength and weaknesses of your team and show your trust that they can do it. Once you spot they are entering the zones where they are week and project may suffer, micro-manage them for some time just to kick reach the level where they can do it themselves.
Conclusion is that micro management is not a bad practice but a part of actual management. If you are using it a lot then you are not a good manager and if you are not using it at all still you are lacking something. Managers are supposed to be flexible enough to adapt themselves to achieve their target. Their target should not only be completing project but complete projects on time with a happy team where everyone is accomplishing their goals.
