20 Clues That You Might be a Micromanager

20 Clues That You Might be a Micromanager20 Clues That You Might be a MicromanagerManagers are rarely if ever heard describing themselves as micromanagers. Yet, working for a micromanaging boss isone of the most frequently cited reasons employees hate their jobsortheir bosses. Clearly, theres a disconnect here. Are you acting like a micromanager without even knowing it? The 20 questions below will help you judge for yourself. Each describes a common trait of a micromanager. Add one point for each yes answer and check your score at the end. 20 Questions Do you have a long list of pending approvals and decisions that await action? Micromanaged employees have learned the hard way that they need your approval for every little decision. Behind your back, you may be referred to as the bottleneck.You are always running out of red pens. As far as youre concerned, there isalwaysroom for improvement in any document, even if your margin notes are subjective or nit-picking.You insist on tagg ing along with your employees to any meetings that they have with your boss, company executives, key clients or vendors, or anyone else worthy of your attention. You insist that your employees copy or blind copy you on all emails you deem important. Your email inbox regularly exceeds its storage limit.You regularly work long days and weekends and rarely take a vacation because you think no one can do your job as well as you.You often re-do work that you have delegated to an employee.You really do have a sign on your desk that says The Buck Stops Here.You often call meetings before meetings to make sure your employees are prepared for meetings.You insist on having all work processes documented. You think you are smarter than any of your employees and get frustrated with them because they just dont get it. You resent having to babysit them but you have no choice.You rarely have time for developing strategy, because youre working so hard on day-to-day details. Your boss pointed out you r lack of strategic thinking in your last performance review.When you delegate, you spend more time describing how to do the task than on whatneeds to be accomplished.You have each of your employees cell phone numbers and text them often outside work hours. You require weekly and monthly activity reports from your employees.You hold frequent post-mortems meetings to second-guess every decision and action taken.Your employees never take any manahme or come up with new ideas. You need to do their thinking for them.You measure and monitor everything. Your motto could be if you cant measure it, you cant manage it.You never allow your employees to attend meetings for you.You need to know what your employees are doing at all times. You have access to their calendars so that you can keep track of them. You have high turnover and low employee engagement scores. When you do find a rare high performer, they quickly find another opportunity. Scoring 10 or more You are a stone-cold microman ager. You refuse to let go and trust your employees. You need to change your ways, or youll be doomed to a career full of frustration,burnout, and missed promotional opportunities. Talk it over with your boss, someone in human resources, a trusted peer, or an executive coach. There is hope for you, but you have to face the issue and want to change. 5 to 9 You are a borderline micromanager. Hopefully, your micromanaging ways are situational and temporary. For example, maybe you have a lot of new employees on the team. Go back and examine the questions you answered yes to and ask yourself if this behavior is really necessary. Set a goal to eliminate one item at a time until you are at 5 or under. 4or less Youre probably not a micromanager. Still, its worth going back and examining the questions you answered yes to. Ask your employees for honest feedback. Talk to a few managers that you really admire to get their perspective. You may be surprised by the positive impact of eliminating e ven one or two of these micromanaging habits. None. Congratulations You are an empowering leader who knows how to hire and develop great people and then turn them loose. Your employees must love you, your boss must be impressed, and you have no problem maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Please make yourself available to any of those micromanagers that come to you for advice. When Youre a Micromanager Most micromanagers arent aware that theyre doing it. They may take pride in running a tight ship or proclaim that the buck stops here. They may feel theyre giving their employees direction and support. They may not reallytrust their employeesand hope to protect them from screwing up. In any case, micromanagement leads to miserable employees and lower productivity. It stunts the growth of every employee and manager, and it leads to poor long-term performance and the loss of good talent. Dont give up hope, though, if you see yourself in any of the micromanaging behaviors describ ed above. Awareness of the problem is the first step towards improvement.