Project Micromanagement and Associated Costs
Working remotely isn’t business as usual, only in a different place. It requires some different skills. Especially management skills. Are you dishing out project micromanagement?
Ask around, no one seems like the concept of being micromanaged. In some cases, managers will tell you it has become a necessity due in-part to poor performance.
I’ve even had people argue that micromanagement is actually more efficient than a more strategic approach to management and oversight.
Micromanagement is never more efficient, it’s a time waster for everyone.
It is a tactical approach, and is not strategic.
It costs more.
Project Micromanagement
Whether you are working closely together in a physical setting, or you’ve had to change things up a bit to accommodate the social distancing standards, project management skills matter.
Certainly, there are technical applications to project management, but largely that is not what I’m referencing. What you may want to consider is your basic habits and approaches to managing work.
Many employee teams are accustomed to completing their work to the eighty percent level. Leaving out about twenty percent of the really hard stuff. They turn in the assignment and then wait for management to ask for revisions or modifications to the work.
Employees who have been closely monitored learned a long time ago that spending extra time to perfect their work only results in having a supervisor critique the assignment causing additional work.
In response, they’ve cut back, and stopped trying so hard. Instead they do a minimum requirement, turn it in, and wait for feedback.
Cases like this are abundant. Supervisors and direct reports alike are pushing work back and forth costing time and wasting energy.
It is a form of micromanaging a project. Tactical, but not strategic.
A Better Practice
Instead, management teams, especially teams working remotely, should consider teaching the strategic aspects of the knowledge and skill requirements.
This in turn will create a culture of employee teams who deliver completed work. Not drafty assignments that waste time.
The psychology of work is largely shared within the culture. However, the culture across different work environments may shift both expectations and performance indicators.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
