Micromanagement and Poor Performance
12 June 2014
Read by 2685 persons
Many managers mistakenly believe that "good management" means constantly overseeing their team members and monitoring their every move.
Unfortunately, this practice, known as micromanagement, is counterproductive. Constant surveillance creates a heavy atmosphere and generates stress within teams. Being on the lookout for the smallest mistake and pointing out every flaw puts the employee in a situation of constant failure. Monitoring and controlling the work of one's teams prevents one from being truly productive oneself and therefore performing well.
On the contrary, by developing the autonomy and skills of your team members, you will progress yourself by helping them progress. The more they climb the value chain, the more they will encroach on your "territory" and force you to climb the value chain yourself by bringing more ideas and being more strategic.
Rejecting micromanagement goes hand in hand with management by objectives and results. Indeed, if we manage by subsidiarity and do not always have our noses over the shoulders of our collaborators to monitor the relevance and efficiency of their work, this implies that we evaluate said work based solely on its results. Results-based management is therefore the most effective and fairest management, especially when managing international teams or working with a manager based in another country.
Performance management goes hand in hand with another value: learning from mistakes. The pursuit of performance involves taking risks. However, if we never fail, it's because we're not taking enough risks! The most important thing is not to avoid making mistakes—that's a chimera—but to be transparent about the mistakes we make—to prevent them from becoming larger—and, above all, to learn from them. If you want to foster collective performance, you must encourage your team members to tell the truth, even when they make mistakes. And to draw positive lessons for the future.
On this subject, Martin Luther King said: "There is no insignificant work. Any work that helps humanity has dignity and importance. It must therefore be undertaken with a perfection that does not shy away from effort. He who is called to be a street sweeper must sweep as Michelangelo painted, as Beethoven composed, or as Shakespeare wrote. He must sweep the streets so perfectly that the hosts of heaven and earth will stop to say: 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his work well.'" This is indeed a fact that rigor and demand do not require any talent....
Philippe Montant
Chief Executive Officer of ReKrute
Unfortunately, this practice, known as micromanagement, is counterproductive. Constant surveillance creates a heavy atmosphere and generates stress within teams. Being on the lookout for the smallest mistake and pointing out every flaw puts the employee in a situation of constant failure. Monitoring and controlling the work of one's teams prevents one from being truly productive oneself and therefore performing well.
On the contrary, by developing the autonomy and skills of your team members, you will progress yourself by helping them progress. The more they climb the value chain, the more they will encroach on your "territory" and force you to climb the value chain yourself by bringing more ideas and being more strategic.
Rejecting micromanagement goes hand in hand with management by objectives and results. Indeed, if we manage by subsidiarity and do not always have our noses over the shoulders of our collaborators to monitor the relevance and efficiency of their work, this implies that we evaluate said work based solely on its results. Results-based management is therefore the most effective and fairest management, especially when managing international teams or working with a manager based in another country.
Performance management goes hand in hand with another value: learning from mistakes. The pursuit of performance involves taking risks. However, if we never fail, it's because we're not taking enough risks! The most important thing is not to avoid making mistakes—that's a chimera—but to be transparent about the mistakes we make—to prevent them from becoming larger—and, above all, to learn from them. If you want to foster collective performance, you must encourage your team members to tell the truth, even when they make mistakes. And to draw positive lessons for the future.
On this subject, Martin Luther King said: "There is no insignificant work. Any work that helps humanity has dignity and importance. It must therefore be undertaken with a perfection that does not shy away from effort. He who is called to be a street sweeper must sweep as Michelangelo painted, as Beethoven composed, or as Shakespeare wrote. He must sweep the streets so perfectly that the hosts of heaven and earth will stop to say: 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his work well.'" This is indeed a fact that rigor and demand do not require any talent....
Philippe Montant
Chief Executive Officer of ReKrute
