Imagine that you work in a classic autocratic organization, and your boss follows every little rule. He oversees each detail of every project and task – and he seems to believe that you and the rest of the team are incapable of performing without him help at every step.

This, in turn, has created an oppressive and discouraging work environment. Productivity is low, and many people have left to go to organizations that are less controlling and more empowering.

Does your boss watch over everything that you do?

So how can you improve your situation? How can you get your boss – and perhaps your organization – to trust you more?

Working in a micromanaged environment isn’t easy. I ‘ll highlight the disadvantages of micromanagement, and I’ll explore what you can do if your boss micromanages you.

Disadvantages of Micromanagement

There are several disadvantages to a micromanagement style of leadership:

It can hurt creativity – When your boss constantly checks up on you and tells you what to do, you have no power to think for yourself. This limits the solutions that you might find on your own.

It can cause you stress – Often, micromanagers make you feel as if nothing you do is good enough. This type of working relationship can make even small tasks seem overwhelming.

It can waste time - When your boss constantly holds meetings and gives instructions, he limits the time you could be working on productive tasks.

It can hold you back professionally – Because you’re dependent on your manager for every task, you don’t take responsibility for yourself and for your work. This limits your growth and development, which may impact your career.

So, what can you do about it?

Critique Yourself

First, it’s important to find out why your boss is micromanaging you. If he behaves this way only with you, then perhaps you’re the cause.

Look honestly at your own work and habits. Have you ever given your boss a reason to mistrust you? Does disorganization or poor time management cause you to miss important deadlines? Do you find it hard to concentrate, or communicate poorly? Or do you fail to follow up on important leads or emails that your boss sends you?

These are tough questions. It’s hard to look at yourself and your work objectively…

So, you are waiting for a promotion you dreamed about. You think that your technical expertise and your ability to reach performance goals consistently, makes a good candidate to become a manager.

Any management promotion can be a challenge, but it’s especially hard on people with strong technical skills, but who have little or no management experience.

We’ll explore how to make the transition, and what you can do to excel in your new role. We’ll also include links to several other resources that can help you strengthen the skills you need for success.

Management Challenges

Technical experts are often promoted because they have recognized knowledge and skills in their field. Whether it’s IT, finance, sales, or marketing, they know their jobs very well. After all, that’s what got them noticed!

The problem is that organizations often promote people based on these technical skills, not on their management skills. And many organizations offer very little support to new managers.

You first need to recognize that your technical knowledge may not help much in your new management role. Why? Because instead of just focusing on your own skills and successes, you now have to focus on the skills and successes of your team. Your mindset has to change.

This is where many technical managers make their biggest mistakes. Instead of paying attention to the “people aspect” of their new role, they continue to do what they’ve always done: work on their own projects and technical skills. But if you ignore your team and their needs, you’re going to alienate them quickly.

Skills You Need

The good news is that you can succeed – and succeed spectacularly – in your management role. To do so, however, you must learn a new set of skills, including:

Delegation - As a manager, you must know how to delegate tasks to your team effectively. This will keep you from spending time doing things that should no longer be your responsibility.

Briefing - You need to keep your team up to date on their progress, what you expect from them, and what will happen in the future.

Motivation - Your team is now your responsibility. This means that you must keep them motivated and moving forward. Our article Herzberg’s Motivators and Hygiene Factors will teach you how to discover what truly motivates your people.

Communication - In your previous role, good communication might have been helpful, but not vital. But now, as a manager, the ability to communicate well is essential to your success.

Discipline - At some point, you’ll probably have to discipline someone on your team. Whether a team member is breaking rules, under-performing, or upsetting others, it’s up to you to restore peace. Knowing how to discipline effectively (members only) and diplomatically is key to keeping your team’s trust and respect.

Recruitment - If your team is changing or expanding, then you’ll have to hire new people, but finding the right people can be difficult. Our Recruiting Skills Bite-Sized Training session will help you get better results with your recruitment efforts (members only).

Tips for Making the Transition to Manager

Personal Analisys - Make a list of what you must improve to be a better manager for your team. Many managers let others assess their skills, and then wait until their performance review to discover what skills they lack. Don’t make this mistake – spend time now identifying your weaknesses, so that you can start improving on them immediately.

Stay away from technical work – Resist the temptation to get involved with technical projects that aren’t your responsibility. Yes, you probably enjoy this type of work and want to feel successful doing something you know well, but this is now your team’s responsibility. Spending too much time doing technical work will only hold you back as a manager. Sure, it’s good to pitch in when you can, but make sure that you do the managing part of your role first.

Meet with every team member – Make it a priority to meet with everyone on your team personally. Find out what interests and motivates them, and check that they have everything they need to be happy and successful in their role. This shows that you’re taking an interest in them, and it helps you get to know the people you’re managing.

Learn one skill at a time – Acquiring a whole new set of skills for your new management position can be overwhelming. Don’t try to learn everything at once. Focus on one skill at a time, so that you can learn each skill well.

Instead, think of how much time you spend commuting or driving. When you are driving, do you listen to music or the radio? Do you have an ipod you could use during your commute?

If you manage to listen to anything, you could as well, and as easily, listen to personal growth audiobooks, including time management lessons or other inspiring self improvement tapes or CDs. Just keep them on. Not only will you learn, but you will also feel energized after being in a company of those inspiring speakers.

For instance time management advice is not to difficult to comprehend. It typically does not require intense thinking or research to understand. What is much more important is how much those time management principles and techniques become a part of you, how deeply they penetrate into your mind. This is why learning in small bits over an extended period of time, with each of those bits repeated a few times, will beat the effect of any intense time management seminar.

Listening to educational audiobooks in your car seems to be a small change in your habits. Yet, those ten minute pieces will add up fast. Over a few months you will have a dozen of books deeply imprinted in your mind. The words of wisdom from the time management speaker will become a part of your inner voice. If you keep doing this over those months, even without any books or time management seminars, you will be much more ahead in your time management than 90 to 95 percent of people around you.

For optimal learning, it is generally recommended, and my personal experience support that, that you come back to the same audiobook for at least 5 times.

Our daily lives are changing at a faster pace than ever before in history.  Rapid advances in technology, instantaneous communication, and globalization of commerce have radically altered our lives. 

Perhaps nowhere is this more obvious than in the work place.  And while many of these changes have been positive, shifts in long-held beliefs about careers, job location and job content have led to a significant increase in workplace stress. 

Employers are only now realizing the high cost of stress and uncertainty on employees — and the company bottom line.  Since the rate of change is not likely to slow down in the near future, as a Manager we must find effective tools for managing de change in our workplace.

While the causes – and the tools – are numerous, there are a few basic concepts that every manager can utilize to reduce the negative impact of change on staff morale and productivity.

Communication

Keep the lines of communication open.  Let your staff know as far in advance as possible about major changes coming up.  New locations, shifts in corporate structure, or major changes in policy should be presented to employees as soon as feasibly possible.  Knowing what to expect is a powerful tool in reducing workplace stress, and managing change in the workplace in a positive and productive way. 

Participation

Wherever possible, involve employees in the decision making process.  Top down mandates may appear to be an easier method of managing external changes, but the long range effects of command management can be devastating to a company’s bottom line. Where change is inevitable, get your staff involved in managing the shift.  Give them as much control as possible in implementing new procedures or designing training programs. 

Offset negative changes with positive options

If negative change is unavoidable, offer something positive to balance the experience.  For instance, a reduction in force can be traumatic for the remaining staff. Consider an employee development program for the staff you’ve retained…additional skills training, job enrichment, on-site or online seminars, or tuition assistance programs geared toward your company’s mission can help productivity and reduce workplace stress.

Monitor the effects of change

Don’t assume that the task of managing change in the workplace ends when the new policy goes into effect, or the move to the new office is complete. Monitor your staff for signs of change-induced stress.  Look for decreases in productivity not directly connected to a learning curve.  Check attendance records for an upward trend in sick leave.  Keep a close eye for changes in morale. 

If the signs of stress appear, take immediate steps to open the channels of communication.  Listen, learn, and then take action to replace the negative with a new, more positive experience of change. 

Your employees – and your business – will benefit.

2 – Assemble the team when it has to give instructions or communicate an important fact: The only way of knowing that everybody knows the same and works according to the same rules is to assemble the team to give him instructions.

3 – Urge the team to which it rises questions: we know that he will want to give the instructions as rapidly as possible and that the whole world one starts working. But if it doesn’t leave that anybody rises questions, in a meeting or later, someone might confuse the facts, not value correctly the priorities or understand badly his instructions. Don’t forget that any members of the team would be prisoners of the panic and he doesn’t help them to think that with clarity.

If it doesn’t allow to them to rise questions to avoid to lose time, he will be asking them to face a crisis wrong information or an incorrect approach.

Support a serene tone. On having spoken to his team, take care of the voice tone. Although it is scared or stressed, his work consists of preventing the panic from spreading. Try that his voice doesn’t produce alarm and show them that it is calm so that they also it are.

4 – Make to inform the team in the making of important decisions: this is the ideal approach because it achieves that the people commit themselves with the decision and that it does all the possible why I worked. Obviously, in full crisis, it can’t lose time organizing surveys and debates to discuss what the best solution is to the problem. But try to involve the team the possible maximum thing.

5 – Be always close: if the crisis belongs to those who sadden or determine emotionally to the team, it is probable that the personnel needs to speak with you. It is possible that they are sad, frustrated and feel that they can’t communicate with you because it is much occupied to attend to them. For it, look for time to listen to them.

6 – Show to his team that it is on his part: insure of that the persons to his charge know that his well-being is a priority for you.

7- Never lose the sense of humor: the laugh is the best way of reducing the stress. If it joins the pranks or initiates them, the team will consider it an entertaining person.