Being a boss is not for the faint of heart. There are many nuances when it comes to being a good boss, and just because you are a boss it doesn’t make you a leader. Of course you should be a leader, you should strive to be a good leader, however, many bosses are staring at the trees instead of looking at the whole forest.
Maybe my metaphor could be better, but you get the idea.
When you, as the respective leader, become a micro manager, it becomes a detriment to the organization because you are not fulfilling the role you should be fulfilling.
Did you know there is a direct correlation between leadership and the profitability of an organization? In this Forbes article, it states that out of 50,000 managers in a research study, the bottom 10% of leaders had a $1.2 million loss, the middle 80% of leaders had a $2.4 million gain, and the top 10% of leaders had a net gain of $4.5 million.
Could you imagine what it could do for your organization if you learned to lead better?
Can you imagine what it could do for your health?
Here are 4 ways you being a micromanager is a detriment to yourself and the organization:
1.You don’t ever get a break.
When you don’t trust your people to make decisions, you don’t ever get a break. Mentally or physically. Vacation and paid time off is really you just in a different location working. You most likely are thinking about that new hire that is coming in soon or meeting that goal, and want to ensure your staff is on top of it. At some point you have to learn to trust your staff to do the job you hired them to do. When you are at the top of your game, your team will be.
2. You don’t have time to cast vision.
Vision is an integral part of any organization. It is established at the top of the organization (typically), should be based on the values of the organization, and be a guiding statement that the organization wants to achieve or be known for.
It is the leader’s job to create buy in amongst staff. Your people have to be engaged and excited about what they get to do every day, but that typically doesn’t happen when they don’t understand how their everyday makes an impact organization wide.
It is important that you communicate the vision frequently.
3. You don’t raise up new leaders.
Your job is not to do the work. Your staffs job is to do the work. A big piece of the leaders job is to see who has the skills and ability to be a future leader. It is working with them in various capacities, delegating and empowering them with tasks, and seeing how they do with their newfound responsibility. It is taking the time to invest in them.
Leaders should be raising new leaders who should be raising new leaders.
When you are in the midst of doing the work, this important task gets lost.
4. You do more work than is necessary.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think anyone wants to do more work than is necessary. Yet those who micromanage and have to be in the “know” about everything going on in the organization create more work for themselves.
Of course you need to know what is going on in your organization. That’s what one-on-one and staff meetings are for. You hired them to do a job. Train them to do it, then let delegate as necessary based on their abilities.
Stop doing more work than is necessary.
The most successful leaders understand that it takes a team of people to make an organization successful. They understand they must train and then trust their staff to get it done.
When leaders are able to do that, profitability can, and will, increase.
Stephanie