How Micro-Managing Reduces Productivity!

Do you constantly find yourself hovering over your subordinates, barking instructions? Do you live in? the constant fear that your team will not be able to execute the task effectively, and as a result, do you constantly feel the need to check in? If the answer is yes, you could be micromanaging your employees. Even though it isn't a bad leadership style, it creates problems when leaders fail to give their employees some freedom at work. It breeds distrust among employees and results in loss of employee potential. It stifles creativity and makes employees feel irrational, stressed, and depressed. For those who are unaware, here are some ways micromanagement reduces productivity.

Feeling Frustrated

There is nothing wrong with supervising, but problems arise when managers go overboard. Constant surveillance, excessive tweaking, and feedback can make them second guess their ability and lose confidence in themselves. This loss of confidence makes them feel frustrated, negatively affecting productivity.

Increased Employee Turnover

Micromanagement can eventually lead people to quit jobs. The persistent monitoring of anything and everything they do, repetitively going over every element, can make them feel unappreciated, drain them, and send them looking for work outside.?

Lowers Morale

Employees begin to feel a loss of autonomy when micromanaged. They stop thinking and going the extra mile. They do as they are told because they feel the manager wouldn't trust them anyway. Micromanagement disregards an individual's skills and experience as managers take complete control of things. This deeply hurts the employee's morale.

Loss of Trust

As managers, you need to trust your employees when doing their job. Constant check-ins and corrections make them feel that the management does not trust them enough. As a result, they become disloyal and resentful. They either leave the organization or lose the zeal to work entirely and become deadweight, simply waiting for their manager's next instruction.

Destroys Teamwork

Teamwork creates synergy and promotes creativity and collaboration, but micromanagement kills teamwork. Employees work less with each other and more with the boss because the boss doesn't trust them enough and likes to do everything himself.

Reduced Innovation

Micromanagement disempowers employees to work in ways that work for them. Controlling every aspect of the task or project makes the employees feel less accountable for the task. Also, there is little room to critique, think or brainstorm and improve their processes. This diminishes their capacity to innovate.

Health Problems

Micromanagement takes a toll on the employees' well-being as well. Employees with demanding, over-controlling bosses tend to become stressed and depressed, losing morale and confidence. They begin to lose faith in themselves and may end up smoking, drinking, or overeating, leading to various health issues like diabetes, heart problems, lack of sleep, etc.

Conclusion

It is essential to understand that a manager's job isn't to control employees but to educate, guide and nurture employees to become better professionals. Train them but allow them to perform tasks independently. Sure, they will make mistakes but encourage them to learn from them and ask for help wherever needed. This increases their morale and drives them to do better, which benefits the organization in the long run.

Can you think of other ways it negatively impacts employees? Let us know your thoughts below!