A message from Sandy. Do you know the difference between micromanagement and delegation? Here are some examples:

MICROMANAGEMENT:

——–Only giving out superficial, simplistic, boring, or unappealing tasks.

———–Nothing of significance can be decided by the employee unless she obtains approval.

———–Providing detailed directions and methodologies, thereby limiting the ownership and creativity input of the team member.

———–Little if any chance for the employee to learn from the task or assignment.

———–Taking a back seat at the first sign of trouble, thereby failing to delegate by not allowing the person to learn from the experience.

———–Requiring detailed reports on how the work will be done.

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

TURNING IT AROUND: FROM MICROMANAGMENT TO DELEGATION

————Give out assignments that challenge and enable the person to grow beyond their current skill set.

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

————Spend time with the team helping them to understand the values and principles that you operate by, so that the results are delivered in a way that enables the individual and makes the organization look good.

————When something goes wrong, (as we all know it will, at least once) focus on learning what could be done differently next time and develop solutions to enable the team member to resolve the mistake.

———–Spend time setting goals with the team and planning with them how they might achieve them.

———-Establish criteria by which success will be judged. (this should be the same for all employees)

———-Create an environment where an open respectful debate of ideas and methodologies can occur.

———-Create systems that monitor performance and measure progress.

The “snoopervisor” can be a challenging and frustrating leader to work for. Do you find yourself only micromanaging one or two people and not the whole team? This suggests that the problem may belong with the team member. Maybe they have under-delivered in the past, broken promises, not followed through regularly, have an attitude, an unwillingness to change, or are just not at the skill level required to complete the task. Identify the causes of under-performance and put a plan together to do something to improve the situation.