A message from Sandy. Micromanagement can be a concern for many team members, so consider this carefully. You may unknowingly be standing in a team members way by keeping tabs on every minuscule detail of their work. If this sounds like you—guess what? You are a micro-manager. The good news is——-there is hope for you to change your ways and by doing so, help your team become the best that they can be, and that will contribute to the overall success of the practice.

The major cause of micromanagement is a trust issue (probably–big ones). There is that constant doubt, concern, or fear that your team cannot achieve or complete things in the way that you would like. This in turn creates great pressure on the team and  morale suffers. (If you really believe the team member can’t do the job–maybe it’s time to re-evaluate that team members responsibilities.)  It’s funny——Wikipedia includes the word “symptoms” in describing micromanagement, as if it were an illness. If you really think about it, how successful has micromanaging your team been for you?–This behavior and lack of respect usually backfires and shows up in some form of undesirable behavior later.

Still not sure if you are a micromanager? How do you know if you have an addiction to micromanaging people? Watch for these signs:

1. You want to keep tabs on what everyone is doing—all of the time.
2. You leave no room for suggestions or ideas from your team.
3. Your employees avoid  having a one-on-one meetings with you.
4. You feel swamped at work, because you are not delegating to your team properly.
5. People are awaiting your approval, even for tasks that don’t require one.
6. You feel like you have to do everything yourself as no one can get the job done right.
7. You have high turnover in your staff.
8. Even if you have assigned someone the responsibility to head up a task, you feel you must still oversee it.

Imagine the negative impact. If you have ever been annoyed having someone watch your back while you attend to your daily duties, you will start to understand the feeling of being micromanaged. And that could be just the tip of the iceberg!

1. Your team members stop being straight with you because they are finding they are not heard, or stopped before they ever get started. This means you lose access to fresh ideas that can help your business and your team grow.
2. Your team members may become disengaged and will not go the extra mile to see your business succeed.
3. Your employees lose their confidence in doing a job well, and the fallout? It now diminishes their abilities to develop new skills that will help them work more efficiently and productively.
4. Apathy, confusion, resentment and anger seeps in as your employees lose interest. Imagine what that is doing to productivity.

You may be wondering is there a cure? (the first step– admit you are a micro manager–I am sure there is a support group) Behaviors can be altered, it’s just a matter of perception, a willingness to change and a huge dose of TRUST. It starts by unlearning the old ways and accepting that no one is perfect, but working as a team can help you put all of your imperfections together to come up with a flawless plan. There is nothing wrong with being detailed oriented, so long as you are not shutting down the lines of communication. Just pause for a moment and ask yourself, “Is it really worth it for me to spend the time micro managing and what is the long term impact?”