Micromanagement and Underperformance

 
1-What are the consequences of constant supervision?
Many managers wrongly believe that "good management" means constantly being on the backs of their team members and monitoring their every move. Unfortunately, this practice, known as micromanagement, is counterproductive. Constant supervision creates a heavy atmosphere and generates stress within teams. Being on the lookout for the smallest mistake and pointing out every blunder puts the employee in a situation of constant failure. Supervising and controlling the work of your teams prevents you from being truly productive yourself and therefore performing well. On the other hand, by developing the autonomy and skills of the people on your team, you will progress yourself by helping them progress.

2- Results-based management!
The higher they climb in 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 objective and results-based management. Indeed, if you manage through subsidiarity and don't always have your nose over your employees' shoulders to monitor the relevance and efficiency of their work, this implies that you evaluate said work based solely on their results. Results-based management is therefore the most effective and fairest management, especially when supervising international teams or working with a boss based in another country. Performance management goes hand in hand with another value: learning from mistakes. The pursuit of performance involves taking risks.

3- Failing to learn from mistakes
However, if you never fail, it's because you're not taking enough risks! The most important thing is not to avoid making mistakes – that's a fantasy – but to be transparent about the mistakes you make – to prevent them from becoming larger – and, above all, to learn from them. If you want to foster collective performance, you must therefore 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 like Michelangelo painted, like Beethoven composed, or like 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 job well.'" This is indeed a fact that rigor and high standards require no talent.....


Philippe Montant CEO ExeKutive.biz