Micro-management
… and you!
When people are promoted into
management positions, they usually
envision the type of leader they want to
be. Their intention is to be fair,
principled leaders with a passion for
developing and empowering those who
report to them. In turn, their direct
reports will be so appreciative of these
noble qualities that they will fully
commit themselves to achieving
unprecedented levels of performance.
So goes the leadership dream.
Micro-management never factors into
that dream. Micro-management is, in
fact, the antithesis of leadership, and is
commonly understood to be the root
cause of many of the morale and
productivity problems that occur in the
workplace.
In a nutshell, micromanagement is a tendency to focus too
much on what we’ll later define as
“specialty work.” The micro-manager,
in effect, relinquishes leadership of the
team in favor of duplicating the work of
the team members. It is essentially a
regression back into a non-leadership
role.
No one sets out to be a micro-manager.
So how might a manager become one?
It could be that the manager simply
does not know how to lead and retreats
to his or her non-leadership comfort
zone. Often, however, the regression
into micro-management is gradual:
The manager takes the lead in the
beginning, but then a team member
makes a mistake. Perhaps another
team member begins to exert some
authority that threatens the manager’s
leadership position. Maybe another
team member takes a risk that fails to
pan out. In response, the manager
reclaims control of tasks large and small
thereby disempowering the team.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
www.PrairieSageDesign.com
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES

Describe behaviors associated with
management, leadership, and specialtyfocus work.

List behaviors associated with micromanagement.

Explain the three principle areas in which
managers should invest their time.

Distinguish between task-oriented and
results-oriented goals.

Establish systems by which to promote
self-management among staff members.

Take steps to ensure decision-making
responsibilities are properly placed.
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The Obligations of Management
Why do some managers develop micro-managerial tendencies when others do not? There may be many reasons. Some
managers lack confidence n their ability to lead others and “nitpick” their staffs’ work to demonstrate their own competence.
Others may fear a loss of control over the work, or may simply lack trust in their staffs’ ability to do a job well. Perhaps the most
prevalent cause of micro-management, however, is a lack of understanding of what management or leadership is supposed to
be.
Managers almost never receive a thorough education on what effective management and leadership look like before they are
promoted into those roles. The practices and techniques that they adopt are often the practices they have observed over years
of being managed themselves. Unfortunately, their role models may or may not have been effective leaders in their own right,
so in this way, ineffective management techniques can perpetuate themselves across “generations” of leaders within an
organization. To break that cycle, it is important to understand the terms specialty-focus work, micro-management,
management, and leadership. The diagram below illustrates the objectives of each role. Micro-management is bad chiefly
because it precludes the obligations of the manager to seek new opportunities, plan to seize those opportunities, and develop
staff.
Dual Role
Leadership
Surveying existing conditions,
identifying opportunities, and
communicating a vision for seizing
those opportunities
Management
Planning for implementation and
allocating resources so that the vision
can be realized; developing and
preparing staff to perform at the
levels required to achieve the vision
Specialty-focus work
Micro-Management
Work performed by individual
contributors (staff) in the
implementation of the plan and
realization of the vision
Inclination of a manager to invest time
and energy in specialty-focus work
rather than on fulfilling the obligations
of the management and leadership roles
Learning Journal
Think about the people with whom you work (your own boss, your direct reports, your counterparts in other departments
or on other teams, etc.). Based on the role descriptions above, in which categories do these people seem to fit? Why?
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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2
Are You a Micro-Manager?
No? Are you sure? It seems that micro-managers almost never recognize themselves as such. If they do admit to a tendency
to micro-manage, they will often justify it by citing the critical, high-stakes nature of the work being performed and their need
to ensure that it is done right. They may also claim that they are simply trying to help their staff avoid certain failure without
proper intervention. Does this reasoning sound familiar? Take the self-assessment below to determine whether or not you
tend to micro-manage. Select the single best, most accurate, or most true of the responses that complete each statement
below. For commentary on this exercise, turn to the Self-Check Keys.
I spend most of my time…
completing tasks.
thinking and planning.
reviewing staff’s work.
as they develop their own solutions
to problems.
before moving on to the next task.
my staff is mostly self-sufficient and
self-directed.
my staff hesitates to take on new
tasks.
developing staff.
ensuring staff adheres to policies.
identifying what needs to be done
and doing it.
completing tasks that I assign to
them.
my staff is prepared to meet future
challenges.
my staff follows proper procedures.
empowering staff.
managing details.
seeking new business opportunities.
chipping in to help my staff
complete their tasks.
staff make decisions about how to
accomplish assigned tasks.
staff make decisions with my help.
Staff members tend to consult with me…
throughout a task.
When it comes to projects…
my staff looks to me to tell them
what to do and how to do it.
Of the following tasks, the most critical is…
meeting goals.
My staff is best at…
keeping me apprised of what they
are working on.
As a manager, it is most important that I ensure…
my staff doesn’t fail.
My strength is…
completing projects.
I spend most of my energy…
overseeing administrative tasks.
In my department…
I make all the decisions.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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3
If Not Micro-Management, Then What?
Micro-management duplicates the effort of direct reports performing work at the specialty-focus level. In addition, it relieves
those direct reports of the responsibility of performing optimally at that level. Consider as an example a manager who insists
on proofing all documents before they leave her department. Direct reports, in this case, may be relieved of the responsibility
of proofing their own work or thinking critically about what they have produced. The manager, after all, will catch anything
that isn’t quite right. Any inaccuracies found later will be the responsibility of the manager because she (the manager) let the
document go out. The responsibility of producing error-free documents is transferred from the direct report to the manager.
What if that manager ultimately ends up re-writing documents as she proofs them? Again, the responsibility for producing
quality work is transferred to the manager. What’s more, in recreating the work of the direct reports she is revealing her
distrustand perhaps lack of confidencein their ability to perform. Few managerial behaviors can damage a team more
than revealing a lack of confidence in their abilities. Finally, consider a manager who constantly watches the clock to ensure
her staff is on task every minute of the day. In doing so, she is relieving the staff from the responsibilities of self-regulation
and self-management.
Constant oversight of detail work, frequent re-working of tasks, and perpetual clock watching sap managers’ time and energy
that would be better invested in other areas. But what other areas? What should a manager do with all of the extra time she
will have if not duplicating the efforts of her staff? There are basically three areas in which managers should invest their time:
seeking opportunities, planning, and developing staff.
Representative Management/Leadership Tasks
Seeking Opportunities
〉 Survey conditions external to the department/team and organization that could
directly or indirectly impact the team’s results.
〉 Identify business opportunities.
〉 Create a clear and compelling vision of a future for the team, and show that
future to them.
Planning
〉 Plot a course to the future.
〉 Allocate resources and organize work
〉 Build relationships within, and external to, the organization to achieve mutual
goals.
Developing Staff
〉 Present challenges to individual staff members and the team.
〉 Design career paths.
〉 Coach and train staff.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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4
The Cure for Micro-Management: Goals
There are three activities that prevent micro-managerial behaviors from forming (and can “cure” micro-managerial behaviors
that have already emerged).
1. Focus on results.
2. Promote self-management by putting systems in place to facilitate the achievement of those results…and trusting
those systems to work.
3. Transfer responsibility for achieving results to direct reports.
The content and structure of staff performance goals (those goals that are formally evaluated on annual performance appraisals)
are integral to this process. It is important to understand that goalsparticularly those that have been elevated in importance
to the point that they are part of the performance appraisalare instructive. They teach staff what is expected of them and how
success is defined in your department. Unfortunately, staff goals are often task-oriented; they state what tasks the staff person
should do within the appraisal period. They tend to emphasize procedures and de-emphasize independent thinking. Resultsoriented goals are a better alternative because they prompt and reward independent thinking by emphasizing results and
requiring staff to figure out how best to achieve them.
See if you can differentiate between task-oriented (T-O) and results-oriented (R-O) goals by correctly labeling the goal statements
below. Then turn to the Self-Check Key to see the answers and read commentary on this exercise.
T-O
R-O
Increase customer satisfaction ratings by 25%.
Attend project management training by the end of the year.
Complete and submit a financial variance report worksheet by the 15th of each month.
Read through dates, headlines, and articles on our website weekly and update as needed.
Develop a filing system that facilitates data access and complies with confidentiality policies.
Learning Journal
Take a look at your staff’s performance goals. If it’s true that goals are instructive, what are they teaching your staff?
Are they task-oriented or results-oriented? Try rewriting a task-oriented goal so it is more results-oriented.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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5
The Cure for Micro-Management: Promoting Self-Management
Staff members perform optimally when they are effective self-managers. Self-management involves identifying what needs to
be done, finding the means to do it, assessing results, and self-correcting as needed. The relationship between self-managers
and their bosses is that of protégés and mentors. The manager, fulfilling the mentor role, provides general direction, defines the
end goal and establishes how that end goal will be measured, and then steps back to allow the protégé to devise his own
strategies for achieving the desired results. Along the way, the manager provides coaching and feedback, while still maintaining
enough distance to allow the protégé to perform independently. The manager is then free to focus on strategic planning,
resource allocation, market expansion, community outreach, and other leadership activities.
For some people, self-management comes naturally. They need little supervision in order to perform and may become resentful,
in fact, of too much managerial oversight. New managers, or managers who lack confidence in the management role, may, at
times, feel threatened by effective self-managers because they need so little direction. In other words, it may appear that selfmanagers don’t need a bossand that is probably true. What they need is a coach. Self-managers are invaluable members of a
team because they can run with a project and assist the manager in reaching her vision relatively quickly and with finesse. The
manager would do well to develop each member of the team into effective self-managers.
Unfortunately, self-management does not come naturally to some people in the workplace. We might call poor self-managers
dependent performers because while they are capable of achieving desired results, they only do so when closely supervised. They
may wait to be told what to do or may not take proper initiative to make decisions on their own. Are dependent performers
born or made? It is hard to say, but it is entirely likely that dependent performers, at one point in their lives, made early attempts
at self-management and those attempts were thwarted. Perhaps they made a decision on their own that turned out badly and
were punished for it. Perhaps they took initiative and their efforts were ridiculed. Dependent performers, for whatever reason,
may have a lack of confidence in their own abilities, or may simply not know how to self-manage, or that self-management is
desirable or even permitted within the current organizational culture. The presence of dependent performers on a team can
offer the manager an exciting opportunity to coach and develop them into effective self-managers. Unfortunately, instead of
encouraging independent performance, some managers unwittingly reinforce dependent behaviors by micro-managing.
What does healthy team behavior look like? A healthy team is one comprised of effective self-managers (a.k.a. independent
performers) who understand the mission and get it done with minimal managerial oversight.
Self-Management
Manager
communicates vision:
what is to be accomplished
Staff performs without a lot of manager
involvement, sometimes collaborating with
others, sometimes working alone depending on
the nature of the tasks. Manager serves as coach,
but not as overseer or director at this point
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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6
Team
reports results
The Cure for Micro-Management: Systems
Are the members of your staff ready to self-manage? Some managers are uncomfortable with the idea. Consider the sentiments
of one manager:
When you want something done right, you have to either do it yourself or monitor the job very
closely. That’s what I’ve learned in the last year and a half since I took over the management
of this team. In the beginning, I tried to give my team members a lot of latitude in doing their
work, but they just don’t have the same work ethic I do. They made errors, let things slip. I
found that I just couldn’t trust their work, so I ended up re-doing it. After all, the reputation
of my department is at stake. I can’t let substandard work go. But I don’t have time to
constantly re-do everything, so I’ve asked that my staff let me check each phase of their work
before moving on to the next thing. Sometimes I get the feeling that my staff thinks I’m just
hounding them. But there’s a lot at stake. Quality control is critical. Unfortunately, I have to
put in a lot of hours to monitor the work of my staff and to meet all of my other management
responsibilities. I inherited the team I’m currently managing. What I’m hoping is that someday
I’ll have an opportunity to hire my own staff. Then I’ll know that the team will perform at a
high level.
Errors. Sloppiness. These are not qualities associated with effective self-management. It is not difficult to understand how this
manager might be tempted to reclaim tight control over the work being performed. But again, if the manager is re-doing work,
hounding the staff, and putting in long hours just to squeeze in managerial duties, it is unlikely that he is leading the team, and a
self-managed team is not the same thing as a leaderless team. Teams, regardless of how talented and effective their individual
members are, need good leaders, and that is the role managers should be fulfilling. So what should the manager in our scenario
do to promote a self-management culture and develop his staff accordingly? Establish systems staff members can use to monitor
and measure their own performance. Once those systems are in place, of course, it is important to require staff members to use
the systemsand then reward them when they do. In addition, it is important to trust those systems.
Self-management systems are usually comprised of three components:
1. A clear, mutually understood definition of what good work looks like and what is to be accomplished
2. Metrics, benchmarks, or checklists against which staff can compare their own work
3. Access to information, people, and technology needed to make improvements to their work if it falls short of the metrics
Learning Journal
What systems do you currently have in place to measure your staff’s performance? Are members of your staff
encouraged to utilize those systems to measure their own performance?
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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7
The Cure for Micro-Management: Systems
The scenario below illustrates how one manager established a self-management system for use by her team:
My team has to interact with a lot of executive-level clients, and in post-service customer
surveys we were consistently ranked low for a lack of urgency in addressing their needs. To
counter this and improve our scores, I found myself constantly following my staff around asking
if they had done ABC yet or when they were going to get to XYZ. That wore me down, irritated
them, and none of us were happy. So I finally met with the team and together we built a profile
of our typical executive clientwe talked about the demands on their time, the level of
accountability they had to their shareholders, and so on. We then talked specifically about
what “urgency” looked like in terms of response time and observable behaviors. I asked the
team to go off and collaborate on developing checklists entitled, How We Know if We are
Responding to Client Needs with a Sense of Urgency. They presented their completed metrics
to me, and together we finalized them. Now they use these checklists to measure their own
performance. When they run into a roadblock, and response time standards are in jeopardy,
I try to remove as many obstacles as possible and make it easy for staff to access what they
need to meet the clients’ needs quickly. Now, instead of micro-managing everything, I see
myself as more of a facilitator that gets out of the way and lets my staff do their job.
Consider the following scenarios. How would you advise the manager in each instance to utilize a system for promoting selfmanagement? Once you have formulated a response, turn to the Self Check Keys to read the commentary.
1. I suspect that a least a couple members of my staff are taking longer lunches than they are supposed to and shaving time off
of their work day by coming in late. These employees are exempt from Fair Labor Standards Act requirements, so they don’t
punch a time card, and I don’t have any documentation that shows when they are starting their work day or returning from
lunch, but I’ve started observing them closely. I also want them to know that I am aware of their comings and goings, so I’ve
started casually hanging around their cubicles when they are scheduled to return from lunch. I suspect I am becoming a little
paranoid about this, but we have so much to do, and I’m afraid that these employees are not as productive as they could be.
I think they could be doing so much more if they were working a full day as scheduled. Also, I’m afraid non-exempt members
of staff are seeing them get by with this, and will start resenting me for letting it go.
2. My staff can’t seem to send out a single email that doesn’t contain at least three typing errors. This drives me completely
crazy. It’s bad enough when this happens on internal emails, but I have also noticed this happening on emails intended for
our customers. It creates an impression that our work is sloppy and that we don’t give attention to details. I’ve told the staff
over and over again to use spell-check. I’ve even declared a “war on error,” calling staff in on the carpet every time an error
is found. Then staff started combing through emails I sent out that contained errors and showing them to me. It became a
game of who can catch whose errors, and despite so many people reading through the emails, the errors have continued.
What I’ve started to do is require staff to send all of their customer-bound emails to me for review before they go out. It
appears I am making a career out of proofing emails.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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8
The Cure for Micro-Management: Responsibility
The term “micro-management” often evokes a mental image of a manager hovering over the shoulders of his or her staff, or of
a supervisor nagging the staff on matters of minute proportions. Those easily-identifiable behaviors certainly could be
categorized as micro-managerial. However, micro-management takes many forms, some not so easy to detect. In fact, most
micro-management that occurs involves the misplacement of decision-making responsibility. The manager makes decisions that
should be made at the specialty-work level, thereby assuming a responsibility that she should have assigned to her staff.
The best decisions are those that are made closest to the factors involved. Imagine, for example, that you want to prepare a
special birthday dinner for your best friend and have to make a decision regarding what food to serve. Many factors are at play
in this decision-making process, including your culinary abilities, the accessibility of ingredients, the time available for preparing
the food, the preferences of your friend, and the availability of kitchen appliances and appropriate tools. You are close to each
of these factors. Who knows better than you what skills, tools, ingredients, etc. you have to work with? Now, there may be
others you might call for advice, such as your mother, who lives in the next town. However, it is you who have to perform the
task of preparing the meal, it is you who have to present the meal to your friend, and it is you who will experience the resulting
joy or dismay of your efforts. In this example, the “work” is the task of preparing the meal. You are closest to the work. Therefore,
you are the one who should ultimately make the decisions associated with that work.
In the workplace, what often happens is that
decisions are not made closest to the work, but
instead are made by managers who are
removed from the factors involved.
That
distance can impair the decision-making
process, resulting in errors of judgment.
Managers should make decisions pertaining to
factors that are closest to them. Such bigpicture factors as strategy, organization of
work, allocation of resources, identification of
new business opportunities, etc. serve as a
context for managementin other words,
they are factors the manager is intimately living
with every day. There is usually some distance
between these factors and the average
specialty-focus worker. So just as a specialtyfocus worker would not be expected to make a
decision involving managerial factors,
managers should not be expected to assume all
decision-making responsibility when those
decisions involve factors at the specialty-focus
level.
Leadership
Management
Specialty-focus work
WORK


Manager Making
Specialty-Focus Level Decisions
Specialty-Focus Team
 Making Specialty-Focus Level Decisions 
Leadership
Management
D E C I S I O N
Specialty-focus work
WORK
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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9
D
E
C
I
S
I
O
N
The Cure for Micro-Management: Responsibility
The scenarios that follow present managers involved in the decision-making process. Read each one and evaluate their
performance. Is decision-making responsibility appropriately placed? If not, what should the managers have done? When you
have considered each scenario, turn to the Self Check Keys for commentary on this exercise.
1. Annie comes to Tom, her manager, with a problem.
Annie: I wasn’t sure how you want us to handle this when it comes up.
Tom: Does this come up a lot?
Annie: Oh, now and then.
Tom: OK. Well, why don’t you XYZ.
Annie: Will do.
2. Lamar teaches an online course that assists real estate agents in obtaining their business licenses. Leslie, a
member of his staff, was hired a year ago, and over the last several months Lamar has been training Leslie
to take over the education side of the business, which would enable him to hand all of the instruction over
to her. She has not caught onto things as quickly as he had hoped, however, and he remains very involved
with all of the courses. In reading the post-course evaluations from the last class, Leslie noticed that
students were somewhat dissatisfied with their learning experience. They reported that the material was
dry, and that they felt disconnected from one another since the entire class was conducted online. Lamar
and Leslie both agree that the course should be revised in light of these comments. Leslie came up with
several ideas, and decided that adding a series of threaded discussions to the class would be a great
improvement. Lamar thinks this is a bad idea. Threaded discussions require too much additional work on
the part of the instructor and add little value. What’s more, it’s easy for the discussions to get out of hand.
He is convinced that the discussions will result in a disastrous class, so in an effort to spare Leslie from that,
he steps in and tells her to go back to the drawing board.
3. Mary is facing a decision regarding how best to fulfill a customer request. She has come up with two
possible solutions, and neither solution is ideal. However, she is leaning toward one of them. She comes
to Jennifer, her manager, in the hope that Jennifer will make the decision for her. Mary explains the
situation as well as the two possible solutions she has in mind.
Mary: So, what do you think I should do?
Jennifer: Well, Mary, I trust your judgment. What do you think you should do?
Mary: I guess I’m leaning toward solution #1.
Jennifer: That sounds good to me. Go for it.
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10
An Underlying Lack of Confidence
Micro-management is largely driven by lack of managerial skill, or by a misunderstanding of what a manager is supposed to do.
But there is another factor that may ultimately lead to micro-managerial behavior: an underlying lack of self-confidence. Imagine
the scene: Tim manages Cory, a bright up-and-comer who regularly makes suggestions about how current processes could be
improved. Tim, who was the architect of many of those processes, usually responds by outlining all the reasons why Cory’s ideas
won’t work. Secretly, however, Tim begins to recognize that Cory’s ideas are actually pretty good, and probably would, if tried,
increase the effectiveness of the team. This realization starts eating away at Tim. He interprets Cory’s criticism of current
processes as an indictment against his abilities. Tim begins to wonder why he himself was incapable of coming up with those
ideas. He is the manager, after all, and should know better than his staff how to achieve new levels of efficiency. Now Tim is
fearful that his own boss or other decision makers in the organization will wonder if he is really the right person for the
management job. One night Tim dreams that he overhears his boss say, “Well, I’ve lost my confidence in Tim. That Cory, though,
he’s a sharp one. Maybe he’s our man.”
Tim resolves to take control of the situation. He begins to scrutinize Cory’s work, calling him out for errors, omissions, or
inconsistencies regardless of their size or significance. Cory becomes paralyzed under the scrutiny, and his resentment toward
Tim builds to the point that he complains to anyone who will listen, “Tim is such a micro-manager!”
Sound familiar? At the heart of this situation is Tim’s lack of confidence and his erroneous idea that the manager is supposed to
be the sole originator of good ideas. The list below contains some management tips that Tim (and other managers struggling
with bouts of self-doubt) would do well to remember.

Fear not! As a manager, you are not expected to be smarter
than your staff, nor are you expected to have better ideas or
know all the answers. Your value is in bringing out the best
in your staff, and in making good judgments about which
ideas will get the best results.

Seize opportunities to learn wherever you find
themeven when the teacher is a member of your staff.
Don’t waste energy mentally or figuratively defending
yourself or your capabilities. Instead, engage in dialogues
in which you and your staff can learn from each other.

Know that you are not alone! Few managers feel up to the
job of management 100% of the time. It’s too hard! Laugh
at your mistakes and seek your staff’s opinion. Also find
another manager you can confide in that understands
what you’re going through.
Average Size of a
Manager’s Brain
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11
Average Size of a
Non-Manager’s Brain
Self-Check Keys
The following pages contain suggested responses and/or
commentary on the exercises presented throughout this text.
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12
Self-Check Key
Are You a Micro-Manager? (p. 3)
After completing the “Are You a Micro-Manager?” self-assessment, add up the number of selections you made in each column
and determine which column has the highest total. The responses that are least characteristic of micro-management are in
the middle column. If the total in either the first or third column is highest, that may indicate that you have a mindset that
could ultimately lead to micro-managing behavior. If, on the other hand, your total was highest in the middle column, that
does not guarantee that you do not micro-manage. However, it does indicate that you are at least aware of what effective
management looks like.
Micro-management can be detected in two ways. First, you can simply observe the manager interacting with his staff. If he
physically hovers over his staff, or requires that staff involve him in all phases of their work, he is micro-managing. Second,
you can observe the behavior of the staff. If they tend to rely overmuch on managerial direction before taking on a task,
making a decision, or developing solutions to problems, that may mean they have been “trained” not to perform
independently. In other words, their dependency on the manager has been reinforced to the point that it has become
standard practice. How is dependency reinforced? By punishing independency. For example, assume that a staff member
has taken initiative to seize a business opportunity, solve a long-standing problem, or make a decision regarding how best to
get something done. Assume further that this staff member makes an error. Perhaps the business opportunity fails to pan
out, or the solution doesn’t work, or the decision results in new problems. The manager may respond by jumping in to take
over, by harshly criticizing the staff member, or by telling the staff member, “I knew that was going to happen.” When a staff
member takes initiative, she is also taking a personal risk. If the risk is too great, it will not be worth taking. It’s safer to simply
wait for the manager to tell her what to do. That way, if things go wrong, she can shrug her shoulders and say, “well, I just
did what my manager told me to do.” When staff are incapable of performing independently, micro-management often
emerges as both the cause and effect.
The “Are You a Micro-Manager?” self-assessment focuses on both managerial behaviors and staff behaviors. No one of these
behaviors, if observed in isolation, is bad. What’s more, even strong leaders may find it necessary to micro-manage a single
project. However, a leader is responsible for thinking, planning, seeking new business opportunities, and developing staff so
they can perform at increasingly higher levels and meet future challenges successfully. He simply cannot do that if he is
expending time and energy double checking or duplicating the work of his direct reports.
Ideal Managerial/Leadership Behaviors Featured in the Assessment
〉 Thinking and planning
〉 Developing and empowering staff
〉 Seeking new business opportunities
Ideal Staff/Team Member Behaviors Featured in the Assessment
〉 Self-directing
〉 Solving problems
〉 Identifying what needs to be done
〉 Preparing themselves to meet future challenges
〉 Making decisions about how best to accomplish a task.
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13
Self-Check Key
The Cure for Micro-Management (p.5)
Results-oriented goals are those that require a person to devise strategies for achieving them. They are not procedural, and they
don’t spell out exactly what the person has to do. They simply dictate what should be accomplished in the end. How the results
are to be accomplished is up to the staff member to figure out. What’s great about results-oriented goals is that they teach staff
to think critically, creatively, and independently. Task-oriented goals, which emphasize procedures or specific tasks to complete,
are not bad. But a problem could arise, if every goal a staff member has is task-oriented. Task-oriented goals are directive. In
other words, they tell a person what to do. Since performance goals are usually written by the manager, those that are taskoriented may teach the staff to always look to the manager for direction.
Most task-oriented goals can be rewritten to be more results-oriented. Answers to the “Cure for Micro-Management” exercise
are provided below. Results-oriented versions of the task-oriented goals are presented in green.
T-O
R-O

Increase customer satisfaction ratings by 25%.

Attend project management training by the end of the year.
Acquire and apply strategies to ensure projects are completed on time and under budget.

Complete and submit a financial variance report worksheet by the 15th of each month.
Manage monthly financial reconciliation tasks so that accurate variance reports are written
and submitted by the 15th of each month.

Read through dates, headlines, and articles on our website weekly and update as needed.
Devise an auditing plan for ensuring content is accurate, timely, and of value to clients.

Develop a filing system that facilitates data access and complies with confidentiality
policies.
Some common words used in goals to promote creative thinking and self-direction:
achieve
build
design
establish
obtain
acquire
create
develop
increase
solve
allocate
decrease
devise
manage
strategize
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14
Self-Check Key
The Cure for Micro-Management: Systems (p.8)
No one ever said management was easy. The scenarios presented within this exercise are true, and the managers profiled are
real. In both instances, the managers became overwhelmed by the problems, and their gut reaction was to tighten their control.
In most cases, however, there is a better way to address under-performance, and that better way usually involves the threepronged system of 1) defining what good work looks like; 2) establishing metrics staff can use to measure their own effectiveness;
and 3) ensuring staff has access to what they need to self-correct if their work falls short of he metrics.
Recommendations for addressing each scenario are provided in green below.
1. The focus, in this case, is on the wrong thing. Instead of investing so much time in watching the clock, the manager should
determine what, exactly, is being produced, and whether that is sufficient. He suspects that the staff could be doing more
than they are, so perhaps he needs to raise the bar on what is and is not acceptable performance. He should begin by
defining exactly what the team should be producing, how fast it should be produced, and what, specifically, constitutes
product quality. It is always a good idea to give staff members a role in this process, so he could explain to the team that
output must be increased to meet current demands, and that he needs the staffs’ help in figuring out how to do that.
Establishing metrics can be a collaborative process, though the manager must ultimately approve them. The metrics become
accountability standards that both the manager and the staff can access. Instead of spending time on monitoring and
documenting staff lunch hours and start times, the manager can spend time on getting staff what they need to improve their
performance and increase output.
2. The manager of this team should challenge his staff to define and explain best practices in proofing typed messages. Once
finalized, the staff could publish these practices in the form of a job aid or checklist. These best practices could most easily
be displayed on a procedural job aid or checklist. The job aid might contain such procedures as “use spell-check, read
messages aloud, print messages out before proofing them,” etc. It should also present tips on what to look for within the
messages, such as “extra spaces between words,” or “incomplete cutting and pasting.” The key is to charge the staff with
the responsibility of defining these procedures themselves and holding the staff accountable for using them. The manager
should provide each staff member with a copy of the job aid and explain that when an email is sent, it signifies that the
sender has proofed the email message utilizing the job aid and has personally verified that it is error-free. Now, let’s say
that, despite the job aid, a member of the team sends an email containing errors to the CEO, and the CEO makes a comment
to the manager about it. What should a manager do? Micro-managers would be inclined to absorb the fallout. Micromanagers are in control, after all, and so they are ultimately the ones to blame when errors occur. This is an instance in
which micro-management unjustly protects the staff, thereby teaching them that they ultimately have no accountability.
Instead, the manager should enforce some sort of consequence, such as requiring the staff member to write a note of
apology to the CEO, if appropriate.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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15
Self-Check Key
The Cure for Micro-Management: Responsibility (p.10)
Commentary for each scenario is presented n green below.
1. We know in this case that Annie, the staff member, is closer to the factors associated with this decision than her manager is.
Why? Because she knows that the problem they are discussing comes up “now and then.” The manager didn’t know that.
Clearly, the manager doesn’t directly encounter that problem. The person closest to the situation should make the decision.
That person is Annie. The manager relieves her of this responsibility, however, and makes the decision for her.
A better managerial response…
Tom: What I’d like you to do is consider this problem carefully from all angles and bring me some recommendations as to
the best way in which to proceed.
2. The manager in this scenario is so fearful that his staff member is going to make a mistake that he never loosens the reigns
so she can truly learn from her experiences. In this case, the manager should probably take a chance and allow his employee
to make her own decisioneven if that means she could fail. Experience is an excellent teacher. If Lamar is correct in
predicting disaster, Leslie, his staff member, will need to come up with a remedy fast, which will result in additional learning.
There are some instances in which the consequences of failure would be so devastating to the business, to Leslie herself, to
her manager, to the safety of others, etc., that it should be avoided at all costs. The manager, then, should prompt critical
thinking by asking the staff questions about what could go wrong. In most cases, however, inconsequential failures should
be toleratedif those failures can be leveraged as professional development opportunities.
A better managerial response…
Lamar: I’m anxious to see what you come up with. Or
Lamar: What are some of the downsides to adding threaded discussions? How would you address them?
3. Jennifer, the manager in this scenario, almost got it right. Mary, while having already formulated some solutions to the
problem on her own, lacked the confidence to take the next step and commit to a decision to move forward. She preferred
to hand that responsibility back to her manager. Jennifer initially refused by saying “I trust your judgment. What do you
think you should do?” Where Jennifer went wrong, however, was ultimately validating Mary’s decision and telling her to “go
for it.” Now, let’s jump to the conclusion of this scenario and imagine that things go terribly wrong, and it turns out that
Mary’s decision was the wrong one. Here is what Mary say in her own defense: “Well, my manager told me to go for it, and
I was just doing what my manager told me to do.”
A better managerial response…
Jennifer: I’ll be interested to hear how it turns out.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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16
Recall
The exam that follows is comprised of questions based on the
learning objectives presented on the first page of this text.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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17
Recall
Test your recall of concepts associated with micro-management by reading each question below and selecting the best
answer.
1.
Chronic micro-management prevents managers from
doing which of the following?
A. Leading their teams
B. Monitoring project details
C. Exhibiting a sense of control
2.
Which of the tasks below would most appropriately be
performed by someone fulfilling the dual roles of
leader/manager?
A. Surveying business conditions and identifying
new opportunities
B. Reworking and improving staff efforts
C. Developing procedures the staff are to follow
to achieve desired results
3.
A person within the organization is entering customer
information into a marketing database. At what level
is this person functioning?
A. Leadership level
B. Management level
C. Specialty-focus level
4.
When a manager is investing a disproportionate
amount of time and energy in specialty-focus work, he
or she is exhibiting behavior associated with:
A. self-management
B. micro-management
C. dependent performance
5.
Which of the following words is most likely to promote
creative thinking and self-direction?
A. File
B. Send
C. Devise
6.
According to the text, which of the following roles is
associated with preparing staff to perform at desired
levels?
A. Leader
B. Manager
C. Specialty-focus worker
7.
Rylie, a manager, insists that her staff obtain her
approval before they respond to any customer
complaint. This is an example of which management
practice?
A. Relationship building
B. Allocation of resources
C. Transfer of responsibility
8.
Three areas in which managers should invest the
majority of their time are seeking opportunities,
planning, and ? .
A. developing staff
B. monitoring detail work
C. enforcing organizational policies
9.
Performance goals that over-emphasize procedures
tend to do which of the following?
A. Promote problem-solving.
B. Reinforce self-management.
C. De-emphasize independent thinking.
10.
Which of the following goals is results-oriented?
A. Sort customer inquiries by product category
each day.
B. Increase new product speed-to-market by six
weeks.
C. Schedule quarterly staff meetings to go over
financials.
11.
What do performance goals teach staff?
A. How success is defined
C. How processes have evolved
B. How personal fulfillment might be achieved
12.
Results-oriented goals prompt:
A. independent thinking.
B. adherence to the status quo.
C. dependency on managerial input.
13.
Self-management can be promoted by ? . existing
systems in place to achieve results.
A. trusting
B. monitoring
C. dismantling
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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18
Recall
14.
15.
Effective self-management is characterized by which
of the following?
A. Seeking direction from peers and defending
flawed procedures
B. Alerting superiors of problems and awaiting
their solution
C. Assessing results and self-correcting as
needed
When fulfilling the mentor role, a manager encourages
his protégés to:
A. follow specific pre-defined steps for
accomplishing goals.
B. devise their own strategies for achieving the
desired results.
C. report on progress they’ve made toward
goals on a daily basis.
16.
While dependent performers are capable of achieving
results, they only do so when:
A. closely supervised.
B. adequately compensated.
C. repeatedly given opportunities to work
autonomously.
17.
What is the purpose of a self-management system?
A. To provide a means by which team members
can monitor their own performance
B. To eliminate the need for a full-time manager
C. To identify team members who will soon be
ready for leadership
18.
An organization has an established set of best
practices in place to guide staff in selecting solutions
to problems. This is an example of a ? .system.
A. self-management
B. micro-management
C. leaderless team management
19.
The best decisions tend to be those that are:
A. finalized at the leadership level.
B. made closest to the factors involved.
C. affirmed by a disinterested third party.
20.
Of the following roles, which would be expected to
make decisions pertaining to allocation of resources?
A. Manager
B. Dependent performer
C. Specialty-focus level professional
21.
Which of the following is likely to reinforce dependent
performance?
A. Rewarding risk-taking behavior
B. Providing full access to needed resources
C. Punishing staff members for taking initiative
22.
Micro-management prevents a manager from:
A. leading her team.
B. identifying flaws in her staff’s work.
C. determining if staff remains on-task.
23.
Of the following methods, which is the most reliable
means by which to detect the existence of micromanagerial practices?
A. Observe staff behavior.
B. Ask managers if they tend to micro-manage.
C. Review managers’ own performance
appraisals.
24.
Which of the following statements is true?
B. Managers should protect staff from
experiencing the consequences of failure.
A. Managers should, in some instances, allow
their staff to fail.
C. Managers should prevent staff failure in all
instances.
25.
Task-oriented goals may teach staff to:
A. rely on their manager to tell them what to
do.
B. respond pro-actively to emerging business
opportunities.
C. build collaborative relationships with staff in
other departments.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
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19
Recall - Answers
1.
Chronic micro-management prevents managers from
doing which of the following?
A. Leading their teams
B. Monitoring project details
C. Exhibiting a sense of control
2.
Which of the tasks below would most appropriately be
performed by someone fulfilling the dual roles of
leader/manager?
A. Surveying business conditions and identifying
new opportunities
B. Reworking and improving staff efforts
C. Developing procedures the staff are to follow
to achieve desired results
3.
A person within the organization is entering customer
information into a marketing database. At what level
is this person functioning?
A. Leadership level
B. Management level
C. Specialty-focus level
4.
When a manager is investing a disproportionate
amount of time and energy in specialty-focus work, he
or she is exhibiting behavior associated with:
A. self-management.
B. micro-management.
C. dependent performance.
5.
Which of the following words is most likely to promote
creative thinking and self-direction?
A. File
B. Send
C. Devise
6.
According to the text, which of the following roles is
associated with preparing staff to perform at desired
levels?
A. Leader
B. Manager
C. Specialty-focus worker
7.
Rylie, a manager, insists that her staff obtain her
approval before they respond to any customer
complaint. This is an example of which management
practice?
A. Relationship building
B. Allocation of resources
C. Transfer of responsibility
8.
Three areas in which managers should invest the
majority of their time are seeking opportunities,
planning, and ? .
A. developing staff
B. monitoring detail work
C. enforcing organizational policies
9.
Performance goals that over-emphasize procedures
tend to do which of the following?
A. Promote problem-solving.
B. Reinforce self-management.
C. De-emphasize independent thinking.
10.
Which of the following goals is results-oriented?
A. Sort customer inquiries by product category
each day.
B. Increase new product speed-to-market by six
weeks.
C. Schedule quarterly staff meetings to go over
financials.
11.
What do performance goals teach staff?
A. How success is defined
C. How processes have evolved
B. How personal fulfillment might be achieved
12.
Results-oriented goals prompt:
A. independent thinking
B. adherence to the status quo
C. dependency on managerial input
13.
Self-management can be promoted by ? . existing
systems in place to achieve results.
A. trusting
B. monitoring
C. dismantling
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
www.PrairieSageDesign.com
20
Recall - Answers
14.
15.
Effective self-management is characterized by which
of the following?
A. Seeking direction from peers and defending
flawed procedures
B. Alerting superiors of problems and awaiting
their solution
C. Assessing results and self-correcting as
needed
When fulfilling the mentor role, a manager encourages
his protégés to:
A. follow specific pre-defined steps for
accomplishing goals.
B. devise their own strategies for achieving the
desired results.
C. report on progress they’ve made toward
goals on a daily basis.
16.
While dependent performers are capable of achieving
results, they only do so when:
A. closely supervised.
B. adequately compensated.
C. repeatedly given opportunities to work
autonomously.
17.
What is the purpose of a self-management system?
A. To provide a means by which team members
can monitor their own performance
B. To eliminate the need for a full-time manager
C. To identify team members who will soon be
ready for leadership
18.
An organization has an established set of best
practices in place to guide staff in selecting solutions
to problems. This is an example of a ? .system.
A. self-management
B. micro-management
C. leaderless team management
19.
The best decisions tend to be those that are:
A. finalized at the leadership level.
B. made closest to the factors involved.
C. affirmed by a disinterested third party.
20.
Of the following roles, which would be expected to
make decisions pertaining to allocation of resources?
A. Manager
B. Dependent performer
C. Specialty-focus level professional
21.
Which of the following is likely to reinforce dependent
performance?
A. Rewarding risk-taking behavior
B. Providing full access to needed resources
C. Punishing staff members for taking initiative
22.
Micro-management prevents a manager from:
A. leading her team.
B. identifying flaws in her staff’s work.
C. determining if staff remains on-task.
23.
Of the following methods, which is the most reliable
means by which to detect the existence of micromanagerial practices?
A. Observe staff behavior.
B. Ask managers if they tend to micro-manage.
C. Review managers’ own performance
appraisals.
24.
Which of the following statements is true?
A. Managers should protect staff from
experiencing the consequences of failure.
B. Managers should, in some instances, allow
their staff to fail.
C. Managers should prevent staff failure in all
instances.
25.
Task-oriented goals may teach staff to:
A. respond pro-actively to emerging business
opportunities.
B. rely on their manager to tell them what to
do.
C. build collaborative relationships with staff in
other departments.
©2007-2015 Prairie Sage Instructional Writing & Design
www.PrairieSageDesign.com
21
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