Nine Ways to Learn to Stop Managing by Microscope

by Jan Richards

The easiest way to understand and address the problem of micromanagement is to treat it as a likely response to stress.

And the first step to solving almost any management problem, including micromanagement, is to accept that as a leader, you ARE going to be dealing some uncertainty and stress.

It’s part of your job description.

As a leader, you have to:

– Try to anticipate the future and how it will affect your customers and your organization

– Prepare your organisation to handle the upside and downside of the future you expect

– Learn to deal well with the remaining uncertainty, if and when it presents itself

And with all of that, yes, there is some stress.

To break the cycle of unproductive ways of dealing with stress – including micromanagement – focus on building new instincts and behaviors as a manager.

Concentrate on improving your “management muscle memory,” much like an athlete building the skills and instincts to be able to perform well, almost automatically, under pressure.

Prepare yourself to reduce stress for others, releasing their best performance under difficult circumstances.

And as we all know, micromanagement pretty much has the opposite effect.

Here are nine ways to try to learn to reduce or eliminate your need to micromanage:

1. Don’t fight it: accept that you may be a micromanager.

Consider how you typically handle the stress that comes with your job.

And take this simple test:

– Do you ask yourself the question, “Why doesn’t he (or she) do the job RIGHT?!” when you see something that doesn’t meet your approval?

– Is your natural instinct to want to say, “Just get out the way! I’ll do the job myself!” when you’re not happy with the way something has been done?

– Has anyone ever implied or told you directly that you micromanage?

There are other signs, as well, but these are just a few clues that you might be a micromanager.

2. Remember a time, and a person who micromanaged you and how you felt about it.

What was that experience like?

What, specifically, did you dislike and find unproductive – or even destructive – when you were on the receiving end of micromanagement?

Consider the ways in which your own management behavior might be just like that.

Make a few notes about behaviors you might need to change, and circumstances in which you’re most likely to revert to them.

Make a note about the first signs or symptoms you normally notice that you’re starting to dive – or want to dive – into extreme and unproductive detail as a manager.

3. Acknowledge the problems that micromanagement can cause.

Consider again the person who micromanaged you. Remember the ways in which that style of management actually distracted, diverted, or depleted your own best attention and efforts.

Consider, also, how the implied lack of trust may have handicapped you and other members of your team from learning and being prepared to handle similar, or even greater challenges in the future.

4. Think of the most likely times of stress for your organisation.

Prepare yourself and your team to respond well under the worst of circumstances, as well as the best.

5. Choose and learn improved ways of responding but do so, first, when you’re not under stress.

Like an athlete learning to perform well under the pressure of competition – let’s say the Olympics – you have to learn new skills and prepare with great intention, step by step.

Start by choosing and learning new skills without the stress of performing under pressure.

6. Practice so you can use improved responses when pressure’s on.

Your job as a leader involves bringing out the best in others, individually and collectively.

Start by doing the same with, and for yourself.

Learn and improve by example.

You’ll be a better and more respected leader if you acknowledge and fill gaps in your own performance.

7. Find a model of someone who you think handles well the same stressors that send you into a micromanagement tailspin.

What specifically do they do to handle the stressful situations better than you do?

How do they develop those behaviors or skills, or has it always been natural for them?

If you’re not sure, ask them for a learning informational interview.

Get their advice about what training you might take, what mentors or coaches might be useful, what ways they use to monitor and improve their own skills, as a leader, and specifically in the area of micromanagement, if they’ve ever found they’re inclined to it.

8. Set up a system that allows you to have confidence when you delegate.

Use your management and leadership skills strategically.

Set the customer-focused standards, work processes, performance indicators, and provide the training and feedback that enables your team to succeed.

Create a system that will, to the largest possible degree, enable you to produce customer-desired results predictably, effectively, most cost-effectively.

9. Create your own ways to monitor, create, and reward improvements in your tendency to micromanage.

And learn to ask better questions that guide you to better responses, instead of rescuing, diving for too much detail and micromanaging.

Look for continual improvement by monitoring improvements in indicators and questions like:

– How many times in the past week or month have I felt like I had to rescue a person, project or team?

– How many times did I feel frustrated with the work performance of someone who works for me?

– How could we have prevented it, or caught it sooner through an improved process, performance measures, training or other means?

– What do I need to do as a leader of this organisation to make sure that problems and stressful situations are prevented as much as possible, enabling us to focus on unforseeable circumstances, if and when they happen?

Remember, as long as you know that you have a tendency to respond in an unproductive way under stress, there’s hope that you can change your natural course of action the next time…and the time after that…and the time after that.

Step away from the micromanagement trap.

Stretch yourself to fill your role, fully, and strategically as a manager and leader.

Prepare your organisation and yourself to respond well under stress.

Let the people who report to you stretch and grow to fill their roles fully and confidently, too, leaving your organisation well-prepared for future demands.

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