Are you looking over your employees’ shoulders and feeling suspicious if their skills are up to par? Are you stressed daily with following up on tasks, ensuring the quality of work delivered, meeting deadlines, and keeping everyone in line? If so, you might be a micromanager. 

Micromanaging is a leadership style where leaders insist on having complete control over every aspect of the team, including how employees accomplish tasks. They pay extreme attention to details, even the smallest ones. This often results in losing track of what’s truly essential in business. 

Let’s take a closer look at what micromanaging is really all about and whether or not it’s good for business. If you aren’t sure about it, I’ve provided some telltale behavioral practices and habits of micromanagers to help you identify if you’re one. Then, I’ve got some helpful tips to guide you in tempering your micromanaging tendencies so you can work toward becoming the best leader.

Is Micromanaging Really All That Bad?

Micromanaging is typically associated with distrust in the team, an autocratic style of leadership, and a lack of freedom in the workplace. Micromanagers closely control, observe, and dictate their team members’ next moves. Excessive and unwarranted supervision includes criticizing or commenting on every little detail involved in daily tasks. 

Some leaders choose this stringent approach in managing their team because it elicits immediate responses and produces fast results. However, this leadership style often creates a hostile work environment, thus jeopardizing efficiency, collaboration, and productivity.

On the other hand, some employees favor this leadership style because constant guidance and close monitoring push them to perform better at their jobs. They also like being told exactly what to do instead of devising strategies on their own. They believe this saves precious time because they no longer have to wait for approvals from their leaders and won’t have to worry about things going wrong since every detail is their leader’s idea anyway. 

Micromanagement is seen negatively because it usually creates a hostile atmosphere in the workplace where employees may feel indignant that their leaders don’t feel confident about their abilities and competencies. At the other end of the spectrum, some employees might start questioning their capabilities and lose self-confidence.

The Dangers of Micromanaging

Here are some of the most adverse effects of a micromanaging leadership style:

• It may pull down the team’s morale. 
• Team members may become resentful because they feel they’re always undermined.
• Employees may frequently feel demotivated and frustrated since they feel their growth in the company is stunted.
• It obstructs an employee’s individuality and opportunity to shine since the leader always interferes with their affairs. 
• It puts a damper on creativity, innovation, and initiative and may practically suck the life out of an otherwise thriving, diverse, and collaborative organization. 

When Is Micromanaging Okay?

Micromanaging can be advantageous to the business if it is employed in the right circumstances and in the proper manner. 

Here are some scenarios where micromanagement may yield positive results for your business:

• When employees have recently joined the company, and you’re keen on ensuring that they quickly adapt to your system and standards.
• When the project at hand is more complicated than usual or is completely new to the team. 
• When critical decisions have to be made, and crucial tasks have to be executed flawlessly. 
• When you detect an alarmingly rapid decline in the team’s productivity or quality of work delivered. 
• When the organization or industry is in the middle of a crisis. 
• When your team has been constantly missing deadlines.
• When you’re aiming to resolve a small issue so it doesn’t escalate into a catastrophic problem. 
• When your clients have recently been giving unfavorable feedback on your team’s performance. 

Signs That You’re a Micromanager

You might not be aware of it because your behaviors and standards as a leader have been part of your strategy for managing your team for quite some time now, but identifying your leadership style is crucial to ensuring that it is effective and capable of yielding your desired results. 

Here are some signs that might indicate you’re micromanaging your team:

• You spend most of your day monitoring your team members, sometimes reaching the point where you overlook your own tasks. 
• You dwell too much on details, even if they’re inconsequential.
• You want to be informed and updated about every little change or development. 
• You take over other people’s tasks because you believe you can do them better.
• You tell your employees what to do and how to do it (sometimes, you even show them how).
• You dominate meetings, frequently talking over everyone else. 
• You demand that tasks be redone when they weren’t executed in the exact way you wanted. 
• You eagerly take credit for good results but obstinately and decisively shift the blame to your employees when the outcome isn’t favorable. 
• Your aggression toward your employees can often be deemed as workplace bullying.
• You tend to be overly sensitive to criticisms ( even if they’re constructive), and you take these assumed offenses personally. 
• You generally don’t want to hear about other people’s feelings, ideas, or insights because you see these as immaterial in business. 
• You overly criticize your team members. 

Why Some Leaders Micromanage

Micromanaging usually stems from the individual’s personality, character, and disposition. Some leaders are innately controlling and domineering, while others are more laid back. Some leaders may feel unsure of themselves and their team, while others may worry that their status in the company heavily relies on their team’s productivity.

Here are some of the usual causes of micromanagement in leadership: 

• Lack of trust in their employees. This may be due to the leader’s lack of confidence in their employees’ skills and depth of experience. Perhaps previous experiences also made them realize that their employees’ standards are much lower than theirs. 
• Insecurity about their position in the organization. Some leaders fear their role in the organizational hierarchy will be compromised if their team members don’t deliver top-quality work. They find comfort in ensuring that the failures of their team members won’t be associated with them.
• Loss of recognition. Some leaders worry that if they don’t fully control their employees, any exceptional work will reflect only on the individual, and their contributions will be completely disregarded. 
• Narcissism. Narcissistic traits are commonly observed in the most successful leaders; some micromanage to satisfy their egos. They rarely consider other people’s perspectives because they believe their insights are the most accurate and reliable. 
• Perfectionism. These leaders hold themselves to impossibly high standards and expect their team to do so, too. They are extremely organized and structured. It may be a potent motivator, but sometimes, perfectionism can make you (and others) feel constantly discontented and unhappy.

How to Master Your Micromanaging Tendencies

When all is said and done, micromanaging can be highly detrimental to your business. It’s essential that you use this leadership style only when necessary and only on team members who will truly benefit from it. 

Here are some tips on how you can get a grip on your micromanaging tendencies so they don’t hamper your team’s creativity and initiative and impede your business’ efficiency and productivity:

1. Focus on the “Whats” Instead of the “Hows”

Identify your team members’ strengths so you know how to delegate tasks appropriately. Tell them what output is expected, then take a step back and give them the freedom to decide how best to execute their tasks. 

Giving your employees autonomy will empower them to make smart decisions for the business. It will encourage them to unleash their creative side and bring new perspectives and strategies to the table that may otherwise be inaccessible to the team. 

2. Devote More Time to Larger Concerns

Give your team members general instructions for smaller projects, then give them the freedom to execute these tasks appropriately. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and allow them to plan their day and make decisions independently.

This way, you can spend your time tracking other tasks, offering guidance to more team members, and paying closer attention to more significant, more critical projects.

3. Focus More on End Results

Rather than stressing yourself (and your team members) about procedural technicalities, emphasize work quality, overall performance, and end results more.

Are my team’s tasks accomplished on time?

Do my team members execute tasks efficiently?

Are the end results at par with company standards?

If your answer to these questions is a resounding yes, then there is no longer use fussing over minute details. Focusing on irrelevant and inconsequential matters only muddles true objectives, causes delays in the execution of tasks, and restricts employees from exercising their initiative, proficiency, and creativity in getting their jobs done.

4. Promote Accountability

Encourage your team members to take ownership of their work, and make sure this starts with you. Stop making such a big fuss about shortcomings and failure all the time. Learn to accept that these are part of the learning process and can be used as building blocks for improvement and progress. 

Encourage your team to devise alternative plans of action when their original plan doesn’t deliver the expected results. Make them feel more comfortable with failure so they don’t see it as a dead end on the road to success. 

I remember when a friend shared how a team leader, Lorie, in a company she used to work with would always brush failures off with a smile and then proceed to say her infamous line, “So, what should we do about this?” Everyone in the organization loved this about her. She didn’t dwell on the negatives but instead focused on how she could help turn the negatives into positives. 

Lorie’s team members never felt like they had to walk on eggshells around her, even when they felt like their devised plans and strategies were bound to fail. They never felt reluctant about approaching her for help. They saw their leader as an ally in the organization — not just a superior tasked to oversee their affairs, ensure everything was in order, and castigate them when things went wrong.

Lorie’s mindset about taking ownership of one’s work quickly rubbed off on all her team members. Her team was known for being always positive, engaged, collaborative, and productive even during instances when things didn’t go as they originally planned.

5. Utilize the 360-Degree Feedback Method

Constructive criticisms are essential in helping an individual grow and develop professionally. To make your appraisals even more effective, always employ the 360-Degree Feedback Method. Rather than relying on a one-way street type of arrangement, this method opens up all avenues for your employees. Hence, they enjoy the benefits of a more holistic approach to evaluating the quality of their work. 

Typically, leaders rely on a standard process where they are the sole source of feedback for their team members. They critique their employees with statements such as:

“I’m impressed with your output. Great job!”

“You could’ve done some extra research to make your report more current.”

“I’m worried your clients might find this report lacking in relevance.”

“Our IT department might have trouble analyzing this data.”

Such statements may be helpful, but they rely on the insights, perceptions, and interpretations of just one person. With the 360-Degree Feedback Method, assessments from peers, leaders, clients, suppliers, and practically everyone involved in the business are taken into account. 

6. Ask Your Team Members for Feedback

Leaders are used to always providing feedback to their employees, so it would be quite refreshing if the tables were turned when it comes to assessing your brand of leadership. By asking for their evaluation, insights, and criticisms, you are essentially telling them that you value their opinions and are keen on considering their perspectives on various issues. 

Doing this regularly will help build your team’s sense of belonging — they will feel that they’re valued and appreciated, prompting them to share more of their ideas and insights. This helps create a collaborative and engaging culture in the workplace where your team members become your allies in business. 

Chieh Huang, in this funny and wisdom-packed TED talk, shares his insights on micromanagement and the importance of fostering innovation and happiness at work.

Final Thoughts

Micromanaging is typically seen as an iron-fisted type of leadership where the leader’s insights always take precedence over their employees’. It may cause damage to a team’s morale and productivity. 

However, when executed under proper circumstances, micromanagement can help your team become more efficient and productive, hence becoming significant contributors to the business’ drive toward success. 

If you think you’re a micromanager and need some help refining your methods, reach out, and we’ll talk about strategies you can employ that are more beneficial for your business. We, at Sancus Leadership, can help you tailor-fit your management style to your team’s unique needs. 

Do you work with an employee who isn’t much of a team player, keen only on delivering minimum expectations and focused solely on completing their tasks? Are you beginning to feel frustrated because they aren’t contributing significantly to the team? It’s crucial to address this issue directly before it affects the whole team’s performance and before they start thinking you don’t even notice their behavior.

Talk to a team member who isn’t contributing by being straight to the point, firm, explicit, practical, encouraging, supportive, and optimistic. Uncover the real issue, offer counsel, track their progress, and set concrete goals. Opt for private encounters to avoid embarrassment. 

Let’s discuss how you should approach an underperforming employee and inadequately contribute to efficiently attaining the team’s goals. We will discuss the merits of being calm, collected, and supportive instead of emotional and aggressive. I will give pointers on uncovering possible underlying issues and ensure that positive changes and progress are attained. Let’s begin!

How To Deal with an Underperforming Team Member

A team is supposed to work like a well-oiled machine, with each member performing a specific role to ensure that the group achieves the shared goals as efficiently as possible. If one of the members doesn’t pull their weight, it could spell disaster for the team, mainly if the behavior isn’t addressed early on.

Some leaders might think one underperforming employee won’t do much damage to the team. Sometimes, they look the other way and completely ignore the situation for as long as tasks are promptly accomplished and the team’s goals are met.

This mindset is risky because minor issues may sometimes become prodigious problems affecting the team’s dynamics. Here are some scenarios you might find yourself in if you don’t address this issue directly: 

• Other team members may soon notice the disparity and question your authority and leadership style.
• Others may feel they’re unjustly treated and start feeling disengaged and unmotivated. 
• Some employees may also begin to underperform, thinking you condone such behavior. 
• Team trust, synergy, and collaboration may be adversely affected. 
• Your team’s efficiency and productivity may eventually take a dip. 

As a leader, you are responsible for always being on top of the situation, nipping bad behavior in the bud, and ensuring the team reaches its shared goals in good time. By promptly confronting underperforming employees, you provide that team motivation, engagement, and productivity are always underscored.

We at Sancus Leadership coach team leaders and managers on how they can effectively talk to a team member who isn’t contributing. If you want to learn more about how to boost team collaboration and performance, call us, and we’ll be more than glad to help!

1. Get to the Bottom of It

Before getting all worked up over a disengaged or underperforming team member, try to understand why they’re not contributing. You may be surprised to discover that not everything is always as it seems. 

A friend shared how a colleague got so upset with a consistently underperforming employee that he fired him on the spot during a meeting. The whole team was shocked by their leader’s reaction and told him that the freshly fired employee was dealing with depression due to the recent death of his wife. They all thought he knew about it, too.

Digging deeper into the issue can undoubtedly save you from similar perturbing predicaments, so here are some possibilities you might not have considered yet:

• Your team member may be going through some complex personal issues. 
• They may need clarification about their roles and responsibilities in the team. 
• They may be feeling overwhelmed and perceive their workload to be inequitable.  
• Maybe their role involves working in the background and doesn’t require them to be highly visible, making them seem as if they’re not contributing anything to the team at all (think of someone in charge of finances in a group of software developers or a person handling procurement in a couple of sales executives).

It’s also possible that the employee is indeed just coasting along, reveling in the hard work of their team members and basking in unmerited recognition. In this case, it’s essential to address the issue as soon as you can before it adversely affects the whole team.

2. Schedule a One-on-One Meeting

Meeting privately with your contributing team members is a great way to clear the air and ensure that changes and progress are made regarding this issue. It also minimizes the risk of them being put on the spot and feeling embarrassed about being singled out. 

Listen to your employees first to extract the underlying causes of their negative behavior. Please take this as an opportunity to uncover any difficulties they may face regarding their tasks. Consider the possibilities indicated above and not just jump to conclusions. 

Once issues have been identified, offer support to help your team members overcome their challenges and improve their performance and contributions to the team. I suggest they take some time off to recuperate or recharge if necessary. 

Most importantly, communicate to your team members your expectations for the team and each team member. This way, they distinctly understand the direction of the team and their roles in ensuring that goals are achieved. 

3. Avoid Generalizations

Avoid general statements like “This is unacceptable — you have to do better” or “Make sure I see improvements next quarter.” Such information might confuse or frustrate your team members without precisely communicating what the employee needs to do and the changes you want. 

Be as precise as you can be to help avoid misunderstandings. Give your advice on some practical steps to improve how they engage with their team and allow them to deliver quality work. Provide figures (e.g., percentage improvement in sales or the minimum number of new clients secured within the week) to clearly understand how close or far they are to the goal. 

4. Schedule Follow-Up Meetings

Regularly check your team members’ progress to determine if they’re on track or falling short of expectations. By doing so, you can give them the push they need when they’re having trouble sticking to the plan and the pat on the back they earned if they’re on target. 

Leading and managing a team can be highly taxing, but you must ensure you can tailor-fit your approach depending on your team members’ varying needs. An intelligent leader never leaves a struggling employee alone to figure things out themselves. Instead, they’re eager to lend a helping hand, provide the necessary support, ensure they don’t revert to old bad habits, and eventually achieve their full potential. 

5. Be Encouraging Rather Than Accusatory

Make it a point to be calm, reasonable, and have a positive mind when approaching a team member who may have strayed from the goals. Don’t be reproachful, critical, and condemnatory. On the contrary, be uplifting, reassuring, and sensitive.

Don’t be emotional when talking to a team member who is not delivering and contributing. In business, impassioned arguments almost always lead nowhere and may often lead you to make unnecessary threats and insincere statements, most of which you’ll later regret. 

It would also be great to find out what motivates your team members. Do they crave praise and recognition? Do bonuses and perks inspire them? Are they aiming for a promotion? Make sure to convey to your employees what’s in it if they choose to perform well at their jobs.

Here is a video sharing tips on successfully approaching an underperforming team member and improving your team’s overall performance.

Final Thoughts

You may deal with varying possibilities when faced with a team member who isn’t contributing. They may be going through tough times in their personal lives, feeling overwhelmed with the workload, or simply dodging their responsibilities. Whatever the case, you must remain constructive, supportive, and favorable to push them to change their behavior. 

The way you react may directly affect the team’s performance. Your primary goal should be to convert the unenthusiastic employee into an engaged team member who knows the value of sticking to the plan and diligently performing their duties and responsibilities to the group.

Remember the good ol’ days when you would announce the date of the next meeting, and everyone would show up, and that’s that? These days, setting appointments with your team seems like such a chore because everyone’s always busy, and their schedules are always packed. If you’re starting to feel like you always have to compete for your team’s attention, you’re not alone because many leaders find themselves in this predicament.

When your team members aren’t attending meetings, consider distributing flyers and putting up posters to attract attention and highlight the exciting things that await them. Always start on time and stick to the plan so busy schedules aren’t disrupted. Send no-show emails to habitual offenders.

Stick around to gather tips on dealing with team members who aren’t attending meetings, especially when noticing that this is becoming a habit. Please find out how marketing your appointments to your team can make a difference in their excitement to participate and how being precise, punctual, and undeviating can help. We will also discuss how planning and no-show emails can help boost your attendance rates.

How To Deal with Employees Who Don’t Show Up at Meetings

Some people frequently forego attending meetings because they believe they “have better things to do.” They would much rather spend their time on what they think are more productive pursuits. Anyway, they’re bound to be updated by their peers on what transpired at any meeting they missed, so they can easily catch up on what was discussed.

The danger here is that their absence increases the chances of miscommunication, misunderstandings, and confusion. When crucial messages are passed on from person to person, there is a high probability that accuracy will take a backseat and individual perceptions and interpretations will take center stage. 

Effectively leading a team means ensuring you’re all on the same page. Meetings allow you to check in with your team to ensure you’re engaged and on the right track toward achieving shared goals.

At Sancus Leadership, we believe in making decisions as a team. Meetings are the primary avenues to accomplish these tasks, and if you’re having difficulty effectively managing your team in this respect, we’re glad to help. Book a complimentary call right now!

So what can you do when your attendance at meetings is always low? Here are some tips that may help bring your numbers up:

1. Plan Ahead

Low attendance rates can sometimes be chalked up to poor planning and preparation. Do you schedule meetings without considering the bigger picture? Your past meetings clashed with essential company events or hectic seasons. 

No matter how dedicated you are to encouraging your team members to attend your meetings, you’ll continuously see low attendance rates if they cannot participate. 

Also, consider setting up a rewards and consequences system for your team meetings. This might help encourage your team members to give more priority to these critical encounters. For instance, offer coffee and pastries for those who arrive at least 30 minutes before the meeting starts. Then, close the doors a minute before the designated starting time. 

Don’t forget to send reminders to each of your team members a day or two before the meeting. Busy people are prone to forgetting things, so don’t give your team members a chance to make preoccupation an excuse for being unable to attend. 

2. Employ Marketing Tactics

Wouldn’t it be better if people came to your meetings because they want to and not because they have to? Make your team members want to attend your meetings by ensuring they know it will be worth their while. 

For starters, consider your “competition” in the market. Will your meeting coincide with a much-awaited sports event, the airing of a popular TV show, or everyone’s much-awaited office lunch break? Will the meeting take away from their time with their family and friends? If so, you have to figure out how to make your team members choose to attend your meetings over their other alternatives.

Here is where your skills in sales and advertising and your knack for organizing events come in handy. Begin by designing eye-catching flyers, posters, or even just a piece of artwork announcing the date and venue of your meeting. Ensure to include teasers on what they will miss if they skip the meeting. 

You have to make sure you send the message to your team that there are things — information, giveaways, trade secrets, the insights of a sought-after speaker, or perhaps the opportunity to interact with a renowned personality in your field — that will be made available to them exclusively in the meeting. 

By highlighting what’s in it, you stir your team members’ curiosity and excite them about attending your meeting. 

3. Design an Exciting Program

No matter how well you market your meetings or how successfully you convince your team members to show up, if your programs are boring and lack substance, you’ll likely make people regret going. Chances are, they won’t consider attending your next meetings because they already know what to expect. 

Ensure you live up to the hype you created and that your team members walk out at the end of the meeting feeling glad they came. 

Keep these points in mind when designing your program:

• Information to be shared must be relevant to your team members. 
• Ensure that the speaker (you or a third person) is credible and considered an expert. 
• If there are new members in the group, set some time aside for some getting-to-know-you games and activities.
• Use icebreakers to lighten the mood and encourage team members to be more engaged. 
• Set well-defined objectives and ensure these are met before the meeting ends. 
• Avoid redundancy, constantly discussing unresolved issues, and revisiting old topics — these may take precious time away from urgent issues. 
• Keep the meeting interactive by encouraging team members to speak up and share their ideas and opinions. 
• Keep the meeting on-point — avoid unnecessary, irrelevant chatter, administrative tasks that can be accomplished at a more suitable time, or needless periods of waiting and awkward silences.
• Stick to the schedule — start and end the meeting on time. 

4. Send No-Show Emails

This strategy may be effective, particularly for team members who have fallen into the habit of not showing up at meetings without prior notice. This behavior is disrespectful and unethical and might encourage others to follow suit. 

You can update a team member via a no-show email on the essential elements they missed from the meeting. You can also use it to inquire about their reason for missing the appointment and inform them of the repercussions of habitual non-attendance. If the meeting they skipped was crucial to the team, schedule a one-on-one meeting to discuss pertinent issues. 

Here are three quick tips on how you can transform your meetings to become great and productive.

Final Thoughts

Meetings are essential and pivotal for any business. Strategic plans are drafted through conferences, critical team decisions are made, and appropriate progress is ensured. If your team members habitually skip meetings, they miss crucial information, timely updates, and opportunities to stay aligned with the rest of the team. 

It’s a non-issue when a team member misses a meeting or 2, provided they give you advance notice and indicate a justifiable reason. But when you notice that non-attendance is becoming a habit, you can switch things up and nip this unfavorable behavior in the bud.