What kind of people leader are you? Do you empower your team to take risks, make mistakes, and tackle tough challenges on their own? Or are you someone who wants to stay involved with every step of a project or initiative your team members are assigned to?
Perhaps you’ve noticed your team lacks confidence in making decisions or they’re waiting on you to move projects forward.
The burning question: WHY are you micromanaging?
This was a powerful question I was forced to learn in my work life. I advanced in my early career in the Civil Service, which then in the early 80’s was dominated by leaders who wielded power under the auspice of an hierarchical status. When I became a people leader, my perfectionist tendencies limited the professional growth and team atmosphere I wanted to provide for my team members. I wanted to dissect and question everything they produced. It was becoming impossible to meet timelines because of my need for all work products to pass through my hands. I also started to recognise that my need to do things my way was limiting our team’s creativity and engagement. Rather than producing innovative ideas and solving problems before they came to me, they intentionally came with a blank slate to our collaboration sessions.
I believe most of us micromanage because we think that’s the best way to get results. We have the skill, knowledge, and positive feedback from our past experiences to validate this approach. The challenge with this thinking is that it will get results, but not necessarily the desired results we were hoping for.
How a walk in the woods cured my need to control
