“Very impressive , demanding and straight to the point. Focus on reality and what is to be instilled in all great managers, excellent Karl, worth the time”

My new keynote “Relationships for Leadership and Management Success” launched in Cape Town last month received accolades. Most of the feedback underlined the “passion” the audience has experienced during this presentation. Why was I able to speak with passion in offering them a step-by-step process to build profitable relationships? The answer is simple! I have burnt my fingers because of my fundamental belief that people are worthy of trust. I remain convinced that all people are worthy of trust but I learned one needs to be aware of understanding the kind of person you are dealing with and looking at their track record before you just jump into the relationship. Stephen M.R Covey calls it a balance between your ability to analyse risk -good business judgment- and good people judgment - including instinct and intuition. Allow me to focus my attention on “trust and micro-management”. I have always been an opponent to micro-management because micro-managers can only take their companies as far as they themselves take them. They run the risk of driving away their best and most talented people.

In business management, micro-management is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of his or her subordinates or employees. Micro managing may make you feel in control but in reality you are only hurting yourself and the company. It only limits an employee’s ability to be innovative and creative.

Signs of micro-management: What follows are some signs that you might be a micro-manager - or have one on your hands. In general, micro-managers:
• Resist delegating;
• Immerse themselves in overseeing the projects of others;
• Start by correcting tiny details instead of looking at the big picture;
• Take back delegated work before it is finished if they find a mistake in it; and
• Discourage others from making decisions without consulting them.

When a manager, director or other executive tries to micro manage every person and every project, productivity is lost. There is simply no way around it. An effective manager is responsible for multiple projects and many people. When he tries to exert too much influence over too many things, he can’t help but to lose focus on the bigger picture. As attention becomes focused on one aspect of the business, the inter- relationships and integration of projects become lost in the fog, or worse, on-going complementary projects are changed, and forced to fit with the project the manager is detailing. The higher the level of management, the more dangerous this becomes. If a CEO or COO becomes obsessed with production issues, he may loosen his grasp on things like sales and marketing or operations. By the time he fixes the production issue the point has become moot because sales have dried up. .

So now you’ve identified micro-managerial tendencies and seen why they’re bad. What can you do if you know you’re exhibiting such behaviours - the best way to build healthier relationships with employees may be the most direct: Talk to them. It might take several conversations to convince them that you’re serious about change. Getting frank feedback from employees is the hard part. This means giving your employees the leeway, encouragement – and resources to succeed. Focus first on the ones with the most potential, and learn to delegate effectively to them. If you lack trust in your employees remember the statement - “Employees won’t start trusting you until you start trusting them”.

Why don’t you drop me a mail via karl@businessnetworkingsouthafrica.co.za to tell me about your challenge to build trust?