Firstly, what is micromanagement? 

It’s peering over their shoulder, taking over half way through a task, not allowing them autonomy on the tasks they should own and generally checking up on them.  It’s a controlling style of management.  There are obviously different extremes but whilst it may feel like effective management to you, it’s not.  So, what is the impact?  It will of course vary but these are some of the inevitable outcomes:

1.      Low morale/lack of engagement

Gallup 2020 shows that unengaged employees cost their company the equivalent of 18% of their annual salary, per year.  And if the micromanagement is impacting the whole team or Company how much is that equating to?

2.      Employee stress

How does it cause stress?  It’s annoying and it removes the control employees have over a huge part of their life which negatively impacts many other aspects of an employee’s life including their mental health. Why does it matter?  From a business point of view poor mental health costs UK employers up to £45 billion a year. 

3.      Leader/manager stress/burnout

But it’s not just employee stress it can impact – as a manager or leader, overloading yourself with all that extra work and worry over the control of that work may give you a brief feeling of empowerment but it will start to cause stress especially when the expected outcome isn’t seen.  Going back to point 2, an unwell leader impacts costs too – but at a higher level. 

4.      Lack of innovative ideas, poor decisions, lack of trust

Maybe as a leader you don’t need your employees to come up with good ideas or make good decisions.  Or maybe you would like that? Google invested a lot of time and money in trying to work out why some of its teams performed better than others.  What they found was in the highest performing teams when people had a chance to talk equally, the team did well.  Their collective intelligence increased and better decisions and better ideas came about.  If employees don’t feel they are allowed or are not encouraged to talk then this won’t happen.   However, they also won’t speak up if there isn’t trust.  If they don’t feel you have their back or you trust their ability then they won’t put themselves out there.

5.      Staff turnover

If your stressed, unengaged and bored employees decide they are better off elsewhere then your turnover increases.  According to research by Oxford University and Unum the average cost of turnover per employee (earning £25,000 or more) is £30,614.   It seems high but the same research shows it takes on average 28 weeks to get a new starter to the required standard.

I think it’s fair to say the impact of micromanagement is high and isn’t going to enable your business to grow.  If you need more tips or advice on how to stop micromanaging contact me.