Founder @ Snippet | Co-Founder at Diply | Forbes 30U30 | Thoughts On Leadership & Personal Development
Micromanagers think that freedom makes people: - Lazy - Entitled - Unprofitable Smart managers know that freedom makes people: - Do better work - Be happier at work - Deliver more value to the company If you’re a manager, be a smart one. If not, try to work for one.
Micromanagement is a productivity killer. Period
What comes to mind for me on this: 1. Trusting your employees and team to do the job they were hired for. If micromanaging is occurring, then the one micromanaging has either lost trust in the team at some point and has not addressed the problem... OR they walked in already with distrust from previous experience and has used confirmation bias to support their judgement. 2. The process, and communication, of expectations and training isn't strong enough. When a company does not have solid structure in place, or their onboarding did not support the "what to do when" (for example, when you have down time, utilize it to complete your reports; or If you don't know what to do when topics xyz show up, here is who you should contact for more guidance). 3. The manager doesn't trust themselves. "Where am I failing? Is my team failing because I gave them TOO much freedom? If my team fails, it will be on me and I was raised that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself but I can't do their job, so I'll just make sure they are doing their job correctly." It all stems from "self" mindset anyway.
Great Post! Don't be a manager, be a leader - someone who empowers the team with the knowledge, resources, support and space to do impactful and valuable work. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/managing-micromanager-building-trust-navigating-pgz6e/
This is not the first time this sentiment has been shared in a post. Consistently, when reviewing comments to posts like this, there are a handful of those who focus on the times when freedom has led an employee to behave poorly. While this does occur from time-to-time, what is also fairly consistent is the finger pointed at the failures of that employee. If we, as leaders, have created teams where lack of integrity and questionable time stewardship are so pervasive, we need to also look at our own hiring practices and ask ourselves why we are hiring candidates who WE are unwilling or unable to LEAD toward better performance.
There's definitely a school of thought in management to keep everyone under heavy cognitive load so they "get their money's worth" out of their labor costs. But, just as you can't run a machine on overdrive all the time, you'll have some issues if you overwhelm and overwork your team. They can burn out and give substandard work or they may just leave altogether. I try to be very cognizant of the asks I make of my team and make sure what I need is doable, deadlines are reasonable, and the lesser important items are pushed or moved. If you make an ask and it can't be done, then that's on the one making the ask.
I think a big cause of this problem is using busyness as a metric for productivity. We're living in the age of virtually unlimited resources and automation potential with things like AI. The pandemic was also a good case for how productive people can be in a hybrid/remote environment. Freedom allows for opportunity and innovation. Not to mention happier employees. There's no doubt that someone who loves their job will do higher quality work and not the bare minimum.
Freedom means autonomy and independence. Autonomy and independence foster the spaces for critical thinking, creative problem solving, and making high quality decisions. <---These three things show up on 99% of job descriptions, yet we do not make the space and give the space nearly enough.
Smart managers understand that giving employees freedom can lead to better productivity and job satisfaction!
I think it depends on the workplace more than anything. I've worked for pharmacy owners that gave freedom & because it was a warm, friendly welcoming workplace you do give your all. I mean 9+ months, 7 days a week, 70-80 hours a week. I've worked for owners that gave freedom but long-term staff - due to this lack - were self-centered, inconsiderate, inept, rude, etc and even I (who loves to work) struggled to do more than minimal. While long term staff (fired anywhere else) thought themselves better than sliced bread.
Totally agree on the benefits of freedom, but how do you ensure accountability without micromanaging? Any tips for finding the right balance? Your support in following my page is greatly appreciated.