My teams (48in48, Sideways8, and my kids for that matter) know that I hate micromanagement. I don’t want to be micromanaged, and I don’t want to micromanage someone else. I love to be a part of teams (and families) with creative and productive individuals, and I believe the best way to do that is to turn people loose, giving them the freedom to create and grow.
When we micromanage people we are doing a few terrible things:
- We convey that we don’t trust them, that’s why we are telling them what to do.
- We are making them lazy. If they know we are going to tell them exactly what to do or do it for them; there is no incentive to do good work on their own.
- We are hindering their self-confidence and growth. Telling someone how to do their job (you know the job that they were hired to do because they are supposed to be able to do it on their own) undermines a person’s sense of confidence and worth.
I believe in getting great people on my team and then turning them loose to run toward the vision and goals of our organization. In doing that I have seen my teams grow and thrive, which makes the organization grow and thrive as well.
Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash