Leaders, do you immerse yourself in overseeing your team’s projects? Do you focus on correcting the details at the expense of the big picture? Have you ever discouraged your team from making decisions without consulting you? You might be a micromanager. Micromanagers take attention to detail to the extreme. They need to be in control, often at the expense of their own health and their team’s success.

“I’m not a micromanager, I’m just a control freak.”

“It’ll save time if I do it myself.”

“There is too much at stake to allow this to go wrong.”

These are not reasons—they are excuses. Continuing this way may allow you to feel in control in the short term, but you risk disempowering colleagues, ruining your team’s confidence, hurting their performance, and frustrating them to the point of quitting. You also limit your ability to view the big picture by filling your time and mental capacity with deep level details. So, stop. There’s a better way. We challenge you to encourage your team’s innovation by letting them determine what needs to happen and how.

Instead of dictating the details of a project, give your team an objective and let them tell you what needs to happen and how the work will be done. You can offer guidance and coaching, while allowing them the freedom to get creative, learn from mistakes, and grow.

How to stop micromanaging:

Hold your teams accountable to the outcome, not the process. Creativity will flourish and you might just learn something new. CEEK a Better Way®!