Samantha has an employee named Raul. He has always been an excellent performer, but for the past month Raul has missed deadlines and his performance has been subpar.
Samantha may feel that it is her responsibility to fix this problem and choose to micromanage everything Raul does. She will be very unhappy when she discovers that her approach simply makes matters worse.
Samantha needs to realize that it is up to Raul to improve his performance. She must initiate a productive discussion, explore the reasons for Raul’s poor performance, get his perspective, and then coach Raul so he will own the problem, propose a solution, and commit to changing his behavior.
Samantha can become a good manager once she understands that her job is to set her employees up for success, which includes giving clear directions, asking good questions, providing sufficient training, resources, and decision-making authority, and then getting out of the way so that her staff can come up with the solutions they need.
If your managers tend to micromanage instead of manage, consider peer learning groups as a way to help them, like Samantha, gain the skills they need just-in-time. Your employees will be happy you did.
#management #humanresources #productivity #leadership #business
