The result is the dreaded micromanager. Micromanagers give employees tasks to do and then meddle by overanalyzing every minute detail involved with the job in order to make sure that it is done right. Employees feel like they are being treated like children and get very frustrated as a result of being disempowered. The manager s actions make it seem as though they have absolutely no confidence in the employee s ability. Before you know it, employee morale takes a nosedive.
Employees can do things on their own if they are just given the chance.
The proper way to handle delegating responsibility is to focus on the result you want and give employees the freedom to figure out how the task will be accomplished. Managers should not worry about how an employee solves a problem as long as the problem will get solved. On the other hand, not being a micromanager does not mean that you close all lines of communication with employees. Managers should still monitor progress on projects and should have an open door to address questions that employees need to have answered in order to make a better decision. To illustrate how a manager should act, assume you assign an employee the task of driving from Los Angeles to New York and give him a week to do it.