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Are You The Micromanager Your Employees Are Complaining About?

How would you react if your boss reminded you several times a day how to tie your shoes? Would your reaction be “Stop wasting my time” or “Don’t you have anything else to do?” Ask an employee who works for a micromanager and they will instantly know what that feels like. So, how does a manager become a micromanager? What are the impacts of micromanaging? How can it be fixed? What if the micromanager is you?

To start, let’s define a micromanager. A micromanager is a manager who uses a highly directive management style even when it’s not called for. A highly directive style is perfect in an emergency or when working with people new to a task. But, a highly directive style is not the most effective choice when leading people who perform tasks moderately well or extremely well. Unfortunately for employees, micromanagers believe a highly directive management style is always called for.

So, why does a manager become a micromanager? There are at least four reasons.

• First, their model for what a successful manager looks like may have been a micromanager from their past experience. They saw managers taking control and getting things done so they think they should emulate that successful, but less than effective, manager.
• Second, as I have studied micromanagers over the years, in their defense, they often can’t help it. Micromanagers are often “wired” to be highly directive. The same is true for delegating managers who delegate too much. We each come “wired” by our personalities and previous experience with a primary management style that we use most often. The goal is to make a conscious decision to use the
  most effective management style for each situation.
• Third, micromanagers often believe that only they can do the job right. And, in fact, they may be right. Of course, if the micromanager never allows anyone else to learn and do the job, no one else will ever do it “right.” 
• Finally, micromanagers often develop out of a lack of proper planning and effective management. If tasks are not planned out, assigned and followed up on, then the micromanager often has to do much of the work himself or herself.

The interesting thing about micromanagers is that they are sometimes groups of people.  If the board of directors you sit on approves purchases of office supplies for the organization, the board has become a micromanager of the organization. This is not some way out extreme example. I know of numerous organizations where this level of micromanaging by the board is routine. That’s a topic for another article.

Next, let’s consider the impact that the micromanager has on the organization.

For employees who work for the micromanager, there are two outcomes that result from being micromanaged:

• First, employees develop “learned helplessness.” The micromanager’s style causes an employee over time to give up their ability to take charge and complete tasks. The employee knows that the micromanager will come in and change whatever they did accomplish.  So, the employee mentally “gives up,” resulting in “Learned Helplessness,” a disease that infects organizations. 
• Secondly, employees stop demonstrating passion for their work.  It’s a defense mechanism that causes them to say “If my input will never be considered or if my completed work will always be changed, then why should I bother.” Employees feel like their contributions are not valued or trusted. The result is that you end up with employees who, like prisoners, are serving time instead of serving the needs of the organization.

For managers who have become micromanagers, there are at least two outcomes of their micromanaging style:

• First, micromanagers are racing toward burnout. Micromanagers feel that few tasks in their departments can be carried out without being personally involved. Their burnout may take the form of continued poor productivity, their resignation or even being fired.
• Far more significantly for managers, the major outcome of micromanaging is that, while the manager is mired in the details of  accomplishing other people’s tasks, he or she is missing the big stuff. Big stuff like analyzing sales profitability, performance to budget, industry trends, new products and key contacts that would bring more business. The micromanager is single-handedly limiting the ability of the department or the company from growing beyond their personal ability to manage the details.

So, how can a micromanager be “fixed?” In short, if you work for a micromanager that doesn’t make the changes that need to be made, my only advice to you is to find a new job. Life is too short.

What if the micromanager is you? Simply put, if you keep doing what you have been doing, you’ll continue to get the results you always gotten. Seek out the help of books, a trusted mentor to act as your coach, a management effectiveness workshop or other professional resources that have expertise in helping managers become more effective.

Changing the style that you’ve become accustomed to and found some success with will be difficult. But, with a strong desire to improve your management skills and lots of persistence, you can become a much more effective manager in a relatively short period of time.

Use the Recession to Improve Your Business Results

Use our current economic downturn to challenge the “It Can’t Be Dones.”  Based on the last sentence, I’ll bet you already have a picture in your mind of one of your employees who frequently says that it can’t be done.  The “It Can’t Be Dones” are the unwritten “rules” that drive your organization.  It takes five days to ship an order.  We’re not set up to do big jobs.  We have to follow the ten step project management process.  Our management meeting is always four hours.  That machine can’t be operated by less than three people.

Now is the time.  Go challenge every “It Can’t Be Done” and every unwritten rule that operates in your organization without your permission.  Use the economy as an excuse to improve productivity.

Now Is The Time!

Economic uncertainty can present many challenges for the business leader.  These challenges include falling sales, increasing costs, lower productivity and a hesitation to proceed with plans for growth and expansion.  On the other hand, economic uncertainty may also be a great time to evaluate your operations and make the most of the opportunity to improve organizational performance.  Why is now the time?  There are thee reasons.

First, tough economic times often expose weaknesses that are present in an organization, but that are not as noticeable in good times.  There may even be issues that are undetected when times are good which are more clearly seen now.  For instance, if you have four product lines and the company is making good money in a period of solid growth, the company may not give much attention to the fact that one of those product lines is losing money.  Overall things are fine.  But, when times get more challenging, we often look more closely at the details.

The ebb of the tide may expose issues in your organization that need to be addressed.  Some of these challenges might include low productivity, poor service, inefficiencies, low morale, ineffective leadership or a cost structure that is too high.  When things are going great, these issues are easy to pretend away.  Now is a great time to address these issues and improve your organization’s performance.

Second, in more challenging economic times, high quality talent may be more readily available.  I’m not suggesting just hiring high quality people that other companies simply can’t afford anymore.  More than that, I’m suggesting that, if your company is in better shape than a competitor’s organization, you might be able to recruit away a star player for your team.  It happens in professional sports all the time.

Tough economic times are not always just a time to hunker down and wait out the storm.  There may be opportunities to build on to your company’s offerings, capacity and expertise.  Consider this possibility and you may advance your position in the marketplace.

Finally, challenging economic times are a great time to plan for market opportunities that lie ahead.  Take some time now to define market niches in your industry that might give you a good chance of dominating those niches.  Do you want 1% of a huge market where you are at risk of being squashed?  Or, do you want 70% of a niche in the overall market?  For example, do you want 1% of the PC market or 70% of the rugged built PC market?  Do you want 1% of the leisure travel business or 38% of private label tours sold through travel agents?

Spend some time analyzing key market opportunities and identify where your company could succeed while your competitors can’t succeed.  Here’s an example.  Can you provide smaller volumes of a highly customized version of a product or service while a competitor is only set up to do larger volumes of products or services that have no customization?  If you pursue that market niche opportunity, you could dominate that market while your competitor would have a hard time competing with you.  Think about where there might be those kinds of opportunities in your market.

If we were able to choose, we’d choose economic expansion over economic uncertainty.  However, economic uncertainty provides opportunities if we’re willing to investigate them and pursue them.  Be the company in your marketplace that takes advantage of those opportunities.

Delivering Results In Spite Of The Recession

The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) just released survey results that indicate what many of us seem to know, but haven’t said out loud; the economy is getting worse and won’t recover quickly.  According to their survey, completed November 7, the U.S. economy is contracting at a 2.6% annual rate in the 4th quarter of 2008 and will fall at a 1.3% pace in the 1st quarter of 2009. 

These results are a big change from the survey conducted in September, which forecasted slow growth for the same periods.  These are the experts and even they don’t know where the bottom is. 

How bad will it get?  Chris Varvares, NABE president said “There has been this perfect storm that has slammed the consumer sector.”  Not since the Great Depression have we encountered a housing bubble collapse, a credit crisis, skyrocketing energy costs, a plummeting stock market, a recession and increasing unemployment all at the same time.

So, if this new forecast is accurate, how are you preparing your organization for the recession?  Here are four steps that business leaders should take to weather this perfect storm:

First, cut 20%.  This is both a financial step and a mental exercise.  Let me explain. 

Financially, ensure that your company can weather the storm by increasing cash reserves and cutting expenses significantly.  If the economists can’t predict where the bottom is, we all have to be prepared to survive this recession. 

As a mental exercise, decide what you would actually cut if you had to reduce your budget 20%.  The value in the exercise is that it forces you to prioritize what you would keep and what you would cut.  It helps you narrow your focus and put your efforts into those activities that provide the best return.  So, this chapter of economic turmoil may actually help you improve your organizational performance and financial results.

Second, challenge the “It Can’t Be Dones.”  You already have a picture in your mind of one of your employees who frequently says that it can’t be done.  But, I’m also talking about the unwritten “rules” that drive your organization.  It takes five days to ship an order.  We’re not set up to do big jobs.  We have to follow the ten step project management process.  Our management team always meets for four hours.  That machine can’t be operated by less than three people.

This economic downturn is a perfect excuse.  Cancel your four-hour management team meeting and have your managers go challenge every “It Can’t Be Done” and every unwritten rule that operates in your organization without your permission.  If your managers have the “It Can’t Be Done” disease, start with them.  Use the economy as an excuse to improve productivity.

As you face the “It Can’t Be Dones,” you are also thinking of that employee whose issues go beyond “It Can’t Be Done.”   Everyone else has to work around them and their issues.  Others handle issues so that he doesn’t have to get involved.  You’ve moved her so that she has less customer contact.  He says he’ll get the job done, but he doesn’t.  As people come in they walk on eggshells to see if Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde showed up today. 

This leads us to step three.  Work up the courage to have the conversation that should have taken place months ago. It may be messy.  It may be disruptive.   But, it will be less disruptive and less costly than to let it go on.  Besides, you’re losing credibility with your employees by letting it go on and on.  They’re more annoyed at you than at the problem employee.  Call your employment attorney or another trusted advisor and talk through how to address the issue at hand.  You and your employees will be more productive and you’ll enjoy coming to work again.

Finally, increase your marketing.  Yes, I did say to cut your expenses, but I didn’t say cut your marketing expenses.  In an economic recession, the pie gets smaller.  You have a decision to make.  Accept a smaller slice of a smaller pie…or, use this time to get stronger while your competitors get weaker.  Increase your marketing efforts and sell the benefits of your products or services like never before.  Reach out to old customers you haven’t done business with in a while.  Enter a related market niche in order to get a slice of more than one pie.  Advertise to your existing customers.  You’ll be amazed to find out how many existing customers don’t know what else you sell.

By all accounts, we are in a recession.  Will you be a victim of the recession or will you be victorious over it? 

Is There Value in Behavioral Interviewing?

Would you come and teach our organization behavioral interviewing?  I get that question a lot.  The answer is YES and NO. 

YES, as a consultant who has completed over 1,600 interviews, I can teach business leaders in organizations how to do behavioral interviews.  I’ve done this many times in many organizations.  A few clients have also sat in on my behavioral interviews to glean behavioral interviewing techniques.  One client even videotaped a behavioral interview so they could refer to it repeatedly. 

On the other hand, NO, behavioral interviewing cannot be taught.  Using behavioral interviewing techniques is easier said than done.  Job candidates are so well prepared for interviews today that many answers to questions sound behavioral when they are not behavioral at all.  In addition, in my experience, until a business leader has done hundreds of behavioral interviews, he or she will not be comfortable enough in the interview situation to focus on getting the most beneficial information out of the interview.  This beneficial information includes the distinguishing features of a true behavioral answer, the non-verbal clues displayed by the candidate and the candidate’s answers to the questions.  In a behavioral interview, what the candidate does not say is as important as what the candidate does say. 

In spite of these challenges, developing behavioral interviewing as a competitive advantage for your organization will allow your organization to become more effective at understanding the true capabilities of job candidates than your competitors.  This more effective business practice will, over time, improve the quality of your employee selection process and result in better business results. 

Let’s look more closely at a few of the techniques used in behavioral interviewing.

The premise of behavioral interviewing is that past performance in specific situations is the best predictor of performance in similar future situations.  It sounds simple.  The real challenge is that, nowadays, applicants will provide rehearsed answers to almost any question you throw at them.  However, applicants cannot fake answers to multiple questions, based on the competencies you select, regarding exactly how they handled specific situations in their previous experience.  Their answers to these behavioral questions are excellent predictors of how they will handle situations in your organization.

In terms of behavioral questions, the most common technique is to start any question with the words “Tell me about a time when…..”  This question format is asking for a specific instance when the candidate displayed some skill.  The first challenge is defining what skills, or competencies, are most important to predicting successful job performance.

To thoroughly assess a candidate’s skills, we should probably ask each candidate over a hundred questions.  If we tracked and analyzed that data over time, it would tell us that some of those questions are more predictive of successful job performance than others.  In order to avoid asking hundreds of questions, one of the key steps in behavioral interviewing is defining the skills that are most predictive of successful job performance.  When this is done effectively, we can then focus on only those questions that are most critical to predicting future behavior.

Another critical skill in behavioral interviewing, in my experience, is listening for a behavioral answer to your behavioral question.  When asked to describe a time when the candidate led a successful project, the candidate might say:

“I always do three things to make projects successful.  First, I set expectations up front on the time frames for tasks to be completed.  Second, I require weekly updates on any tasks that are behind schedule.  Finally, I dig in and work with
the team leaders to address those items that are behind schedule in order to get them back on track.”

Wow! That impressive and detailed answer would indicate that this candidate has substantial experience managing successful projects.  This candidate would be highly desirable to most organizations with a need for a project manager.  However, the answer is not a behavioral answer that indicates what the candidate actually did in multiple specific situations.  With additional behavioral questions, we could quickly determine whether these skills were real or whether this candidate’s answer was a rehearsed interview answer. 

Behavioral interviewing is challenging, but, if done well and consistently, there is a substantial financial payoff.  Hewitt Associates, a Chicago area based consulting firm, estimates that the cost of white-collar employee turnover is 150% of the employee’s total compensation.  For an employee with $50,000 in total compensation, the cost to the company is $75,000 (150% of $50,000).  In order to avoid arguing over Hewitt’s data, let’s say the cost is half of that.  That means that each employee who leaves takes approximately $35,000 with him or her.  By investing in improving the quality of the employee selection process, organizations have received a substantial return on their investment by reducing their employee turnover.

In summary, experience is the key.  If you look for an experienced behavioral interviewing consultant to assist your organization in improving your employee selection process, you will see improved results quickly.  The key is to look for someone with substantial experience who understands the nuances of getting the most out of the behavioral interviewing process.  If you choose to implement behavioral interviewing on your own, know that, with diligence, skills will improve with experience and that the payoff will come over time.