It's Management, Not Micromanagement - Kristen Heyer, The Success League

This resource first appeared in issue #45 on 09 Oct 2020 and has tags Becoming A Manager: Other

It’s Management, Not Micromanagement - Kristen Heyer, The Success League

Heyer pushes back on the fears that new managers often have of being “micromanaging”:

Many newer managers confuse management with micromanagement. One of my favorite books on the topic of micromanagement (My Way or the Highway) defines it like this; “Micromanagement is when participation, collaboration and oversight interfere with performance, quality and efficiency.” Unfortunately, management (oversight that adds to performance, quality, and efficiency) often gets confused with micromanagement.

I agree - and I’ve seen way more undermanagement in research computing teams than I’ve seen micromanagement.

Heyer describes management approaches that are not micromanagement:

• Set metrics-based goals for your team.
• Hold weekly one-on-ones with all direct reports.
• Make performance and metrics transparent.
• Provide active coaching throughout their tenure, not just when they’re onboarding
• Delegate tasks to team members who are ready

and has a nice table distinguishing micromanagement, management, and just not really managing:

The way I like to think of it is that good management is holding your team members accountable to assigned tasks and goals at the right scope, the right level of detail, the level they’ve shown themselves routinely capable of handling. And that scope can and should expand over time. If you’re inserting yourself into details that they have routinely demonstrated they’re capable of handling without some good, clearly communicated reason, three bad things will happen. They’re going to feel micromanaged, you’ll be wasting your time, and you’ll be risking losing that team member.