Managing for success (Part 1) – Micro managing people: how to spot it and how to stop it
In this post, I outline a recent experience in micro managing. As a manager, if you’ve ever experienced the sensation that you can do a better job than your staff, or that your staff don’t seem to spot the obvious or think for themselves, then read on. You’ll be in for a bit of a surprise.
This post shows you how to identify if you’re micro managing people and what to do about it.
I was out on site with a client the other day to observe the various activities being performed by management and staff in the store.
One of the activities was to walk around and identify the improvements needed to be made to keep the store in good order and professional. This involved the owner walking around with his ‘entourage’ of three senior management staff pointing out the things that needed fixing. The thing that struck me was how ‘obvious’ the things were, such as a broken light, some papers, a wall needing a dirty hand print removed and organising the stock neatly. These are all things that staff (not management) could fix for themselves.
Two interesting things happened on the walk around. At one time, the owner was distracted for a couple of minutes and the senior team did something (unexpected) – they stood around waiting. The second thing was that each time the owner identified something to be fixed, all the others stood earnestly, craning their necks to see what he was looking at.
So what’s going on here? It may not be immediately apparent, but this is a classic case of micro managing. We all hate being micro managed, but as managers, it’s so easy to fall into the habit.
When people are promoted to management, it’s usually because they’re good at their job. What the senior managers don’t often realise, is that just because you’re good at your job, it doesn’t mean that you’re good at managing people (who are doing your old job).
Because managers were often good at the job they’re managaing, they often end up doing it themselves. It’s stating the obvious, but it’s because they don’t trust their staff to do as good a job as they do.
In the above example, it’s clear that the staff are so used to being told what to fix and they simply end up waiting for the owner to tell them what to do next time. they’ve lost the initiative, probably because we’re all inherently a bit lazy. If someone tells us what we need to do, we’re more likely to let them.
What I was expecting is that on the walk around, the staff would identify the range of improvements that need to be made and offer suggestions on what to do. The owner would then need to say yes or no, or provide alternatives.
How to stop the micro managing cycle.
At some point, you, as the manager, need to stop. What does this mean exactly? The cycle can only be broken by you, since your staff are now in a pattern – a habit of waiting for you to tell them. In the above example, here are the things the owner needs to do to break the cycle:
- On the walk around, ask staff to identify what needs to be fixed.
- Ask for suggestions on how to fix it.
- At the end of the current walk around, say to staff something like ‘when we do our next walk around, I’d like you all to identify at least one area that needs improving
- After the next walk around, say to staff something like ‘When we do our next walk around, I’d like you all to have found at least one area that needs improving and that you have fixed it. On our walk around, you can tell me what you did, and I’ll give you some feedback on it.
The most difficult aspect of the above is how to handle people who seem stuck in the pattern of not thinking for themselves. In a private feedback session, you can say something like
On our walk around, I was a bit surprised that you didn’t notice that [insert some issue here] needed fixing. Tell me about that.
A dialogue can start where you can coach the staff member in what you’d like them to do and how to identify things that need fixing. They’ll need some specific parameters that will sound basic, but that’s where you need to start. For example:
- Every morning, check the glass is clean of fingerprints, the walls clean of hand and finger prints, stock is arranged neatly.
It will take some time and effort with that person – and don’t accuse them of being slack or lazy. As they get the basics sorted out, you can move up to bigger things, such as coordinating stock on display with current promotions. it really seems crazy that staff won’t think of these things for themselves – but remember, you were promoted to management presumably because you were stronger at these things than the staff who aren’t.
The most important thing to recognise when thinking about why you’re staff aren’t picking up the obvious things (i.e. doing it as well as you would!!), is that it’s not that they’re dumb, it’s that they’ve gotten into a pattern of waiting to be told – and it’s your doing. If you stop telling people what to do and ask for their contribution instead – you’ll get it, eventually. It’s your responsibility as a manager to coach and mentor people towards success – not do their job for them. That’s why you’re the manager.
Remember that you (probably) caused things to be the way they are. A change in your staff’s behaviour starts with you first. If you keep telling your staff what to do, you’ll have to keep on telling them what to do. You won’t be getting any of the things done you need to get done and your manager might start trying to micro manage you!!
Managing for success, Psychology | Craig Errey | 
May 6, 2007 5:05 pm
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