Signs You’re Micromanaging Your Business
What a new business owner sees as “keeping a close eye on things” may be interpreted by employees, clients, and colleagues as micromanaging.
If you find delegating even small tasks impossible, tend to have problems prioritizing day-to-day tasks, and dislike it when others make decisions, your micromanaging tendencies could be getting in the way.
A lack of faith in your employees manifests itself in micromanaging. As a business owner, it’s important to understand your own opinions about your staff’s capacity for successfully managing your business affairs. If you suspect that your company culture negatively affects your ability to attract and retain clients, solving the micromanagement problem is crucial.
If you find yourself jumping on to complete tasks that you’ve already turned over to an employee even when they haven’t asked for your assistance, your actions could be undermining an otherwise competent person’s ability to do the job you hired them for.
Here are some other behaviors that indicate a possible problem with micromanaging:
- Poor morale among employees
- Expectation of regular reports on projects of little significance
- Taking over someone else’s job and neglecting your own duties
- Disregard the opinion or perspective of employees with significant experience and a track record of success
- Loss of loyalty among employees
- Negative work atmosphere
- Hyper focusing on details at the expense of the overall project
Finding and hiring new employees is an expensive process. If your tendency to micromanage causes otherwise good staff members to seek employment elsewhere, then your style of management is costing your business big money.
In extreme cases, micromanaging could be considered a form of bullying. When workers feel like their manager’s actions belittle them or prevent them from doing their job, they have a good reason to take their concerns to human resources.
Even if you’ve never received formal complaints, consider your micromanagement tendencies carefully. It’s possible that employees are afraid to bring up their concerns, which could create an unpleasant surprise down the road.
Your clients may also be unwilling to bring up the topic. In many cases, it’s easier to find another vendor or service provider than it is to initiate a conversation about your company culture and how it reflects on your business.
The good news is that micromanagers don’t usually realize how they undermine the business. Your concern about your possible micromanaging tendencies indicates your openness to feedback and your willingness to change, in which case you are already on the road to better business health and a better relationship with your employees and clients.