MYTH : My manager micromanages me.
REALTY: That may be his management style; or you are not providing correct and timely reports.
Employees get frustrated when their manager continually asks probing questions about their assignments. They feel that this is sign of the management’s not trusting them. Then there are those employees who think that it’s a waste of time to provide status reports to their manager as they have already committed to delivering the right solution in the specified timeframe.
Some managers use the micromanagement method as they feel it is the only way to justify their role. Micromanagement might be required for a few phases of a project’s lifecycle, but that again depends upon the manager. Some managers will move away from micromanagement once they have confidence in the deliverables. And in cases where the team size is large, it becomes difficult for a manager to do micromanagement even if he wants to.
It is incorrect to assume that a manager should gauge progress only by milestones. It is an important task for manager to ensure that each milestone is achieved and, for that, he has to track the risk. There are situations where, perhaps because of the ‘complexity of the work, a team member inadvertently might soon block another’s work. So these interim assessments by the manager will help in preventing this block by providing timely support. There are also cases where a team member misses some e-mails, he is not updated on the new direction and continues to work according to the previous guidelines. If not cross-checked, this would lead to wasted effort. And it’s not uncommon that a ,team member reinvents the wheel because he is unaware that there are !earnings available from other team members. Such cases can be prevented by a manager who has the smaller and the bigger pictures.
The need for micromanagement is reduced when the manager finds his employees transparent in their information flow. It will get reduced even further when an employee starts showing good results and wins the manager’s trust.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE EMPLOYEE? You can take a few simple steps to avoid being micromanaged. You should provide a clear status report on the progress and the risks. Whenever ‘you get to meet and talk to the manager you
should update him on your work. You should be adept at handling -change requests and conflicts, and seek guidance from your manager where appropriate.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE MANAGER? You need to understand the difference between ‘leading’ and ‘managing’. Micromanagement may be a good idea with juniors, but in the case of senior staff, you should realize that they do not need day-to-day hand-holding. If you are a first-level manager, it is important to make the transition from valuing your own competence to valuing that of your team members. This transition of a slow shift from ‘hands-on’ to ‘hands-off’ is
painful, and can take a few months or years to get adjusted to. You need to customize your management style based on the team members’ skills-, experience and idiosyncrasies.
