A manager is tasked with establishing priorities and performance standards and goals. In order to achieve required results, managers must be sure to set their team members up for success through proper orientation, training, support, encouragement, and coaching.
A strong team comprised of competent, confident employees performs well when their supervisor is onsite and when the supervisor is absent. To succeed, every employee and team of employees needs the following:
- Clear Expectations – A manager should set clear expectations of work priorities as well as the standards of success.
- Adequate Resources – Set your team up for success by providing the resources, information, and guidance needed to meet the company objectives and expectations.
- Flexibility – Once expectations are clear, managers should not dictate exactly how work is to be completed but allow employees the flexibility to develop their own systems and processes.
- Soft Place To Land – Mistakes are a part of learning. Allow your employees a soft place to land when mistakes that are not intentional or detrimental happen. They need to know that you are in their corner.
- Appreciation – Employees want to feel valued. Managers can ensure their employees feel appreciated by treating them with respect, recognizing and rewarding good work, and following steps 1-4 above.
A micromanager is judgmental, unfair, rigid, untrusting, untrustworthy, and detrimental to their own health, the growth of the organization, and the development of their team.
Micromanagers intently scrutinize or correct even the smallest details of their subordinates’ work. Micromanagers are dictators who do not allow freedom of expression in work or words and often take credit when things go well and place blames when things go awry. Micromanagement is a surefire path to manager burnout and to employee resentment which can lead to disengagement or resignation.
Avoid doing these 10 things in the workplace to avoid becoming a micromanager:
- Setting all rules, objectives, and priorities alone
- Rejecting all input or feedback
- Infrequent or inefficient delegation of work
- Considering subordinates inferior or mediocre
- Dictating how to complete all tasks
- Not establishing clear expectations
- Demeaning or demoralizing employees (publicly and privately)
- Letting fear control your actions
- Completing employee’s work
- Never taking regular vacation or necessary days off work
Nicki Sanders, MSW, is a travel and cupcake lover with a passion for self-discovery and career advancement. She has a strong background in developing and managing interns and successful internship programs. She is an accomplished manager, professor, coach, trainer, and group facilitator who has packaged her Master of Social Work degree and 20 years of diverse work experience into Packaged For Success Enterprises, a full service training and professional development company.
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