How Micromanagement Hinders Employee Growth

Trust in the workplace is crucial to the success of everyone. When working with teams or an individual, allowing them to thrive and use all their capabilities can yield impressive results. There might be setbacks in the process, but it will boost their morale and encourage them to continue doing their best.

Unfortunately, micromanagers exist. Even after delegating tasks to members, a micromanaging superior can end up obsessing over the details that another person is responsible for. This creates a frustrating and tension-filled atmosphere in the office. Instead of enabling others to succeed at a task, constantly checking in and interfering with what they do can lower their self-esteem.

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Micromanagers claim that they interfere because they don’t want their co-workers to fail. Checking in with them from time-to-time is necessary, but taking over their tasks while making them feel that they are incompetent might be a reflection of a leader’s own ineffectiveness. In reality, micromanagers end up losing time to do their own tasks because they are so engrossed in the progress of another person.

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In order to have healthy dynamics in the workplace, leaders must believe that their team members are capable of carrying out the tasks. If some members are falling behind, they can offer help with the mindset of guiding them toward improvement. To boost employees’ accountability, leaders should allow members to carry out their tasks with minimal supervision, making them own up to the job. In the end, having a workplace where people know their place becomes more efficient. When a leader stops being a micromanager, the members will accomplish more than what is expected of them.

Emile Haddad is a Seattle-based business consultant who teaches entrepreneurs about the importance of respect in the workplace. Once respect is present in the office, employees will learn to follow their superiors not because they are told to, but because they want to. To read more articles on leadership and management, subscribe to this blog.