You may think you’re simply helping the team live up to their full potential, but if you answer yes to any of these questions you could be doing more harm than good.
1. Does the amount of time spent following up on the work of your staff get in the way of tasks that are a better use of your time and attention?
2. Do you expect anyone who works for you to handle an issue exactly as you would — even if the staffer’s solution works just as well?
According to John Beeson, author of “The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level,” if you answer yes to either of those questions, you may be a micromanager.
So what’s wrong with that? When upper management sees supervisors who can’t take on extra responsibility because they’re so busy fretting over what their staff is working on, it hurts their chances of advancing in the company, Beeson says.
That and the fact that most employees resent bosses who micromanage them.