If you can’t TRUST your Employees, why HIRE them at all?
Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship, whether professionally or personally and when it’s broken, it is extremely hard to repair. I heard a story from a friend that she had a supervisor, she couldn’t even send an email without her approving it first. She was so inflexible that it was overbearing. She felt stifled. When employees feel they can’t trust their boss, they feel unsafe, like no one has their back, and then spend more energy on survival than performing at their job.
The corporate world is littered with micromanagers. Sadly many organizations prefer these managers because they seem to be on top of, and in control of everything. In the short term, they may produce results but in the long run they leave a trail of destruction in their path.
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to to. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” — Steve Jobs
Employees want meaningful work, and they want autonomy in how they work. Train, coach and mentor employees and ensure they are given clear objectives. The typical ‘bad boss’ spends their time directing employees rather than empowering them. It’s sad that in many organizations, managers think to be effective they need to MICROMANAGE employees.
A manager’s job is to provide guidance and support. It’s facilitating a healthy environment where employees can perform at their best. Always be quick to recognize, appreciate and reward employees’ efforts. Micromanaging is the opposite of empowerment and it creates toxic work environments. It breeds resentment and disloyalty. If you hired someone, it means you believe they are capable of doing the job, then trust them to get it done.
Micromanagement is a complete waste of everybody’s time. It sucks the life out of employees, fosters anxiety and creates a high stress work environment.
Micromanagement chokes the growth of the employee and the organization and fosters mediocrity. When you empower employees, you promote vested interest in the company. Empowered employees are more confident, more willing to go the extra mile for employers, and more willing do whatever it takes to care for customers. The best ideas and advancements are a result of empowering your team.
If you want performance at scale: Select the right people, provide them with the proper training and tools and then give them room to get the job done!
