Business Areas You Need to Stop Micro-Managing
No matter what your title—whether you’re the owner, the boss, or simply the person in charge—as an employer, you have a vested interest in making sure your business runs smoothly. But if you’re crossing the line between managing and having complete control over everything, you’re probably doing your business more harm than good.
[two_third_last] Micro-managing can be an insidious issue. You may think you’re only helping, or just ensuring that everything goes perfectly, until your employees ask you to stop breathing down their necks. And once you recognize that you’re micro-managing, it can be hard to let go.
However, letting go of some aspects of your business will actually improve things tremendously, for you and your staff. Here’s what you shouldn’t be micro-managing if you want a productive and successful business.
Your sales team
The best way to make sure that your sales team experiences so much pressure that they pass on that feeling to customers (and lose sales) or burn out (and lose sales) is to micro-manage them. Sales is already a high-stress position, so having a boss who monitors and corrects every move only fans the flames.
Most salespeople work on commission, so they’re already very motivated to do their jobs well. As an employer, all you need to do is give them the tools and training they need for success, and keep track of their overall performance—not their hourly activities.
Your creative people
Whether or not you’re the type who believes artistic vision is pretentious at best, the fact remains that creativity needs room to breathe. If you want your creatives to come up with something truly innovative, you have to back off and give them the space to create. If you micro-manage every detail of a creative project, you’ll wind up with something stiff and unoriginal.
Your administrators and sub-managers
The reason for having a business hierarchy in place is to make sure that no one person has to do too much. If you’re managing your next-rung leaders so closely that you might as well be doing their jobs along with yours, then you’re doing it wrong.
Micro-managing your administrators defeats the purpose of having them in the first place. Their jobs are to make other people’s jobs easier—including yours. Trust them to do what they were hired to do.
Your delegated tasks
As an employer, when you have too much on your plate, you’re able to ease the load by delegating tasks. You do this to give yourself more time to work on the things that really need your attention. But if you turn around and micro-manage those tasks you’ve handed out, you’re not just negating the benefits of delegation. You’re probably adding even more time to your schedule, because now you’re monitoring a third party in addition to getting the task done.
If you can’t delegate tasks and let someone else handle it fully, you’re better off doing it yourself than micro-managing someone else.
Your contractors
Hiring in-house contractors or outsourcing to specialists can improve the productivity and overall quality of your business. One of the biggest benefits to using contractors is the ability to save time that you can dedicate to your core business. You lose that benefit if you spend your time micro-managing contractors.
Instead of close monitoring for outsourced staff, make sure you hire qualified professionals in the first place. That way, you can comfortably leave the contractors to do what they do best, and get back to running your business.
Visit our website for more advice or to contact a staffing specialist today!
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