Friday, August 28, 2009

Are you a micromanager?

Most people will say: "What a ridiculous question. We hire smart people and stay out of their way so they can do their jobs." However, asking the following questions will lead to a much better answer:

1) Do you pride yourself on being on top of your people and details of every project?
2) Do you judge the tasks of your people and think you can do a better job?
3) Do you pride yourself on asking detailed status reports and updates?
4) Do you believe that being a manager means that you have control over the decisions and you are better at making those decisions?
5) Do you believe that you care about quality, deadlines, more than your employees?

If answer to any of these questions is "yes", you need to see a leadership doctor.

"...more you focus on control, the more likely you’re working on a project that’s striving to deliver something of relatively minor value."

- Tom Demarco