Signs You May Be a Remote Working Micro-Manager – Part 4

Remote Working Made Easy

Welcome to part four in our series about signs you may be a micromanager.

 While micro-management can be a detriment in traditional working environments, it is an issue when dealing with a remote workforce.

 Today we will take a look at a few more signs that you are micromanaging your employees and the effect it can have on your organization and even have an impact on your remote working IT security.

Constant Reporting

Constant Reporting

As we know by now in this series, a remote micro-manager attempts to do everything in their power to maintain the level of control that they had while working in an office.

 One of these attempts to maintain the physical visibility of workers has been to enforce mandatory reporting several times a day.

 While this may seem like a way to keep employees paced and productive, it ends up doing quite the opposite.

 Instead of feeling paced, workers are more likely to feel rushed.

 To meet the reporting quota set by management, they are more likely to take on more work than they can complete so they appear busier.

 This will lead to an increase in mistakes in completed work as well as make employees feel untrusted.

 We have seen this lead to many remote working IT security concerns caused by staff being afraid to own up to their mistakes.

Over Scheduling

Over Scheduling

Like we said in the last section, biting off more than you can chew can have disastrous effects.

 While this can often be caused by employees themselves, more often than not a micro-manager will be the one assigning too much work.

 A remote micro-manager is likely to put together a highly detailed itinerary each day.

 This may be done in some attempts to maintain structural control over their team.

 You need to have more faith in your workers, especially when remote working. Focus on results instead of antiquated time-based metrics.

Meeting Monologues

Meeting Monologues

I think it is safe to say we have all had a manager that seems to just like the sound of their own voice.

 With everyone being out of the office, you may be wondering how this type of manager has adapted to remote working.

 Well, it seems that many remote micro-managers are acting like they are the host of a late-night program.

 We have heard horror stories of managers monologuing to their workforce over video conferences so many times it isn’t funny.

 These tools are designed to encourage collaboration, not to force your team to listen to your half-hour meeting you wrote last night.

 Save that for a memo.