Micromanagement is a style of management that involves the manager controlling every small part of the business. A micromanager doesn’t allow their employees to do their work independently and constantly wants to look over their shoulders; this is an ineffective style of management because nobody wants to be micromanaged, and the manager is also taking out of their own valuable time.
People micromanage because they want to ensure that the work is being done properly and that their employees are doing what they are supposed to do at the time they are supposed to do it. But micromanagement is the wrong way to go about it, there are ways to hold your team accountable without micromanaging them, and we’ll be discussing them below.
- Openly Discuss Accountability With Your Team
It might not seem like much, but just simply talking about accountability and the importance of holding each other accountable will go a long way towards improving the general level of accountability in the workplace. You try your best to make everyone feel like part of the team, and this will make them interested in the success of the business. When they see a colleague slacking or not doing what they should be doing, they are more likely to call them to action or hold them accountable themselves.
If everyone on the team has a sense of accountability, then there would be no reason for you to micromanage and control every minute detail of the business because the team will already be ensuring that everything is going smoothly.
2. Setting Clear And Achievable Goals
This is very key with regard to accountability. A lot of times, the reason why employees don’t get things done on time is that they aren’t even sure what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. Setting and communicating clear goals within a time frame goes a long way to improving accountability in the workplace because what needs to be done and when it needs to be done is staring right in the face of the employees.
It’s also important that these set goals were discussed with your team beforehand, so they feel like they were part of the process and not like everything was imposed on them. This will create a happier and more refreshing atmosphere in the workplace and that is priceless.
3. Create A Simple Evaluation Process
Whatever way you evaluate whether goals are achieved in your business is up to you, but you shouldn’t be the only one in the business that evaluates work done or is aware of how it’s evaluated. Everyone in your team should be capable of self-evaluation and should have the tools required to evaluate their work themselves. They should be able to know for themselves what constitutes a job well done. This will only bring positive results to the business because if they all know this, then everyone has a clear blueprint on how to achieve the best results for the business.
4. Mistakes Happen, And It’s Important That Your Team Knows That
A big contributor to inadequate growth in a business is a fear of making mistakes or getting things wrong. People can’t produce the best results if they have a fear of what will happen if they get it wrong. While trying to be the best company you can be, you need to accept that some of your employees will make some mistakes along the way, and you shouldn’t hold it against them. As long as it is not a regular occurrence, you should encourage your team members when they make the occasional mistake; this will motivate them to do better.
5. Don’t Give Into The Temptation Of Doing Their Work For Them
Sometimes, when you feel like the work done by your employees is unsatisfactory or not being done on time, jumping in and doing it yourself might become tempting, but this is something you shouldn’t do. Doing this is micromanagement and constitutes a lack of faith in your employees. Alternatively, if you are unsatisfied with how things are being done, communicate it to them clearly and teach them if necessary so that they can learn and get it done by themselves. This will pay off in the future.
It’s important to remember that micromanagement is bad for the overall team spirit as everyone will be looking over their shoulders instead of focusing and producing the best result for the business; always avoid it.
Published by Chukwunonso Emelumadu