I recently I overheard a man complaining to his business partner about his administrative assistant.
“She just does not do the things that she is supposed to do! And then, I find her leaving early. I swear that I have told her 100 times to put our marketing packets together, and they are still not finished,” he said frustrated. “What do I do?”
His business partner said “Well, we need to set up a plan for her. We need to say to her that she needs to complete 3 packets a day every day next week.”
“While I am writing this plan for her, I might as well write down everything that she is not doing,” he sighed. “I have never thought of myself as a micro manager.”
For the next hour, these two gentlemen wrote down a schedule for the administrator. It included a lunch break and goals for exactly what they wanted her to do… basically a plan for how he would continue to micro manage her.
Why do we become micro managers? Rarely do I meet managers who LOVE to micro manage; in fact, most of them hate it. However, they do find it necessary at times to keep people on track.
If you find yourself micro managing your employees, examine why this change has occurred. Here are a few reasons:
- The job changed: it could be that the job responsibilities have changed and no one has communicated this to the employee. If that is the case, get out your job description and review it with your employee. Begin the conversation with “I have noticed that we have some duties that are falling through the cracks. Do you have thoughts about that?” Give them the opportunity to give input.
- Your job changed: Managers sometimes fail to realize that if your job changed, probably the admin’s responsibilities have changed too and usually with no warning. Your admin may be frustrated that they are expected to do something that they do not know how to do. You need to make sure that they have the training and skills to be successful in the position.
- Your admin changed: Sometimes people need to move on to another position, and it is your job as their manager to help them leave gracefully. You might begin the conversation with “You know you just do not seem that happy in your current role. Can you tell me about that?”
- The wrong person: And last but not least, you might not have the right person in that role. If your admin does not love their job, you can either find another job for them or find another admin.
In any case, your job is to have a conversation with the employee and create an environment of accountability, not micro management. Make sure that the tasks and duties are agreed upon and written down. Realize that micro management is a short term solution to a long term problem. Use it wisely and sparingly.