9 Tricks for Effectively Managing a Remote Team Without Becoming a Micromanager

As a manager, do you:

• Supervise your team very closely?
• Immerse yourself in their day-to-day activities?
• Ask to be CC'ed on all emails and make sure all decisions are run by you first?
• Assign work to team members and then tell them how it should be done?
• Avoid delegation wherever possible?

If so, it’s very likely that you’re a micromanager.

While this method can help managers retain tight control over the activities of their teams, it creates several problems that can outweigh any benefits. Micromanagers tend to get bogged down in low-priority tasks, meaning they have no time for the bigger picture. They create bottlenecks, as everything requires their approval. They waste their team’s time with requests for reports and updates, and stifle creativity by over-instructing. Worst of all, teams with micromanagers have a higher-than-usual rate of turnover.

Micromanagers and Remote Working

As a rule, micromanagers are very unwilling to embrace remote working. It comes down to a lack of trust — if they can’t see their employees working at their desks, they have trouble believing they’re actually getting work done. With COVID-19 giving many teams no choice but to work remotely, micromanagers are having to adapt to this new reality in one of two ways:

• Loosening their grip and giving their team members more autonomy and trust
• Doubling down on micromanagement in a remote environment

How Micromanagers Tighten the Reigns Remotely

Remote work exponentially magnifies the worst habits of poor leaders. For remote employees who have the misfortune of reporting to micromanagers, this means they are being monitored and managed more closely than ever before.

Micromanagers do the following when staff works at home:

• Make it clear they do not trust employees working from home (“they’re probably just watching television”)
• Obsess about the process, focusing on the how, when, and where of employees’ day-to-day work
• Ask employees to account for every hour of their day
• “Check-in” multiple times per day by phone, text, email, or instant messaging

Micromanagement Technology

Micromanagers may be tempted to go full Big Brother with the use of remote employee monitoring software. Time Doctor, for example, can track the time team members spend on tasks, track the websites they visit, take screenshots of employees’ screens at random intervals “to ensure that they’re on productive sites,” and track idle time when there’s no keyboard or mouse activity. The software generates a plethora of reports on employee activity, which may be a micromanager’s delight but will ultimately lead to a disgruntled and highly stressed team.

How to Loosen Control and Empower Employees

Focus on results.

If team members are delivering on-time and at a consistently high standard, then managers do not need to concern themselves with the process it takes to get the work done.

It takes a shift in mindset, but managers who trust their staff are genuinely unconcerned if their remote employees sleep until noon and get their best work done after midnight or prefer to do their job from the comfort of a hammock rather than a desk. It simply doesn’t matter, so long as the work is being done correctly.  

Tips for Overcoming Micromanagement Tendencies

• Start each week (or day) with a team video call, then let everyone get on with work.
• Give remote employees the technology tools they need, such as a collaboration platform.
• Focus on output — it will quickly become apparent if anyone is abusing your trust.
• Be crystal-clear about your expectations in terms of output.
• Don’t worry about the process, unless it becomes clear someone’s output is below par.
• Give team members decision-making autonomy and encourage creativity. 
• Show trust by delegating more and not asking to approve everything the team produces.
• Be realistic and don’t get bogged down chasing perfection.
• Step away from the detail and focus instead on the bigger picture.

Image Credit: Rido / Shutterstock