How to Manage a Micromanger

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.”

~Ronald Reagan

Recently, I wrote a column about how ineffective micromanaging is and urged all micromanagers out there to alter their ways so they can be better leaders. Micromanaging seldom works and it destroys the fabric of the team.

Since writing that column, I have been inundated with notes from readers asking what they can do if they have a boss who micromanages. The first place to start would be to find out what is triggering their micromanaging. It can not always be assumed that it is the manager’s problem.

Often, micromanagers over supervise because they feel the employee is just not doing the job. I have seen many situations where employees are complaining loudly about a manager they claim is a micromanager only to discover that it is actually the employees who are the ineffective ones. In cases like these, the solution is to build the manager’s trust. The employee needs to prove to their boss that they do not need this constant supervision.

In the event the problem is not an employee performance issue, you will need to have a strategy for dealing with your micromanaging boss. This strategy must start with very honest dialogue.

During this conversation, you might ask your boss something like, “You seem to be managing me very closely. In order to do a better job, what can I do to improve your trust in me?” Keep it very positive and be honest. Honesty is critical as is really listening to what your boss is saying to you.

You may also want to ask your manager how they would like you to communicate your progress on the projects you are working on. Most managers just want to know how things are progressing. Many are simply fearful that things will fall between the cracks. The more you can allay this fear, the better, so it might be helpful to provide regular progress updates.

This is such a small thing, but I have seen this work well in so many cases. The more you communicate to your boss about the status of your work, the less they will micromanage you.

Now there may come a time when you really, really like your job but your boss is giving you grief by micromanaging you. In these cases, you have to do a cost benefit analysis to see if staying is worthwhile. That is, you will need to ask yourself if the benefits of working at a job you love makes tolerating the micromanager a fair tradeoff.

If you have done everything you can, but nothing changes with your micromanager, you may get to the point where you will need to seriously consider leaving the job. Working for a micromanager is very stressful, and we need less stress in our lives, not more.

Now go out and make sure you do everything you can to find out why your boss is micromanaging you. Communicate often so your boss learns to have more and more trust in you. If all else fails, looking for another job might be the only viable alternative.

You can do this!

Allow access to Social Media by your Staff

“Being social, even outside the confines of the company, makes workers more comfortable and happy.” ~Kevin Rice, AT Kearney I was recently consulting with a company when the CEO made a comment about how many of her employees were using social media networks instead of working. After walking through the office to talk to her staff, she had become concerned about how much time they seemed to be spending on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, despite the fact that many were continuously saying they are overworked. In light of this, she wanted to pull the plug on all social network access. After hearing this business owner’s experience, I was convinced that the best strategy was to prohibit access to all social networking sites during the work day. However, after doing some research and talking to others in the field as I prepared for this column, my posture has changed dramatically. I am a new convert to the school of thought that allowing social networking use is good business policy. A study conducted by an industrial research firm recently showed that 50 percent of the large firms surveyed allow their employees to access social media, and they predict that will grow to 70 percent in a couple of years. Obviously the trend among large companies is to allow employees access to these sites. While the percentage of small firms permitting social media use is much lower, I really feel they need to follow the larger corporations’ lead and consider opening this up to their employees. With the advent of smart phones, your staff has the capability of accessing social media even if you prohibit it on the computer system. In the end, the same amount of time will be consumed. For those who are unconvinced by the “they are going to do it anyway” argument, look at it this way. It is increasingly commonplace for your employees to put in workdays much longer than the standard eight hours as they continue to work from home long after they have left the office. Many of your employees feel that they deserve a break after working on an in-depth analysis of some aspect of your business, and more and more companies have made the decision to permit social media access in order to compensate their staff for this personal time. Another common occurrence is for employees to have their personal e-mails delivered to their company account, which means they are spending some of their work time answering personal e-mails. As these observations show, your staff is using your IT resources for personal purposes in so many different ways these days. This is just the world we live in, and it must be accepted if we want to keep our staff happy. An open policy about social networking is also a great recruiting tool for new and younger employees. These Gen Y folks think of computers and technology as their birthright, and being denied this creates some difficult situations. Now, does this mean that you allow workers to use social media for an inordinate amount of time? Of course not. There is a big difference between a reasonable amount of use and abusing the privilege. Though having a policy permitting open access makes it more difficult to let an employee go on the basis of excessive use of the web and social media, good management practices should be able to handle this situation in the majority of cases. Now go out and consider implementing a policy that allows use of social media and the web. There is no question in my mind that this is good policy for both the company and the employee. You can do this!

Greeting your Customers is so Important!

Worry about being better; bigger will take care of itself. Think one customer at a time and take care of each one the best way you can. Gary Comer   Recently I was looking for some new wood flooring for my townhouse. I really did not know what I needed or the pros and cons of different options(and there are tons of them) and had no idea on the coloring of the wood as well.  Trying to be a wise consumer, I went to no less than 5 wood flooring stores. With the construction business being down, I was expecting to get a red carpet rolled out for me with a drum fanfare. However, anything but this occurred. Rather than cheers going up when I arrived I was completely ignored by 3 of the stores and with one store I could not even find one employee to ask a question even though the store was wide open.    Greeting a customer should just not be something of undue importance. Rather it should be the utmost importance and one that cannot be forgotten for any business. After all a warm greeting by an employee is a significant part of the first impression of every store and every business.  If a customer is not greeted when they arrive, the customer assumes, whether it is right or wrong does not matter,  that this business just  does not need or want to help the customer.    Now I am sure that many employees do not like to greet customers as sometimes customers can be very unfriendly. However, whether the customer is unfriendly, mean, or looking squirly, each and every customer “must” be greeted within 30 seconds of their arrival. A greeting is a way of saying, thank you for coming into our store or business today and we appreciate the opportunity to serve you. I have seen many cases where a salesman goes up to greet a customer that looks very rough only to sell them over $10,000 in products. The point being is that every customer must be greeted as if they are the most important person in the world to the staff member greeting them.   Every business spends so much on advertising and promotion, and to blow it on not having a greeter, just is not a good idea. I recently stopped by a real estate office with a good friend that wanted to buy a new house. We arrived at the office at the correct time, but no one was around at all. Only by hollering at 10db or higher, we were we able to finally pull someone out of their secret hideout to come and help us. We almost walked out of the office, if it was up to me I would of. Regardless, both of us quickly realized that the message that was being sent was that we were not important even though there might be a large commission in the works for the salesperson and agency.   While I could go on and on in terms of the poor greetings that I have personally received and so many people have told me about theirs.  The point is that this happens on a regular basis and just cannot be tolerated in any successful business.    Now just telling the staff that you expect to greet a customer is 30 seconds or less in that if you lay out the expectation, then you must inspect to insure that this is happening. Inspecting just cannot be a one time affair but must be continually done to insure that your expectations are being me.    Now go out and make sure that you have a very effective process in place to insure that each customer gets greeted with a smile and warm welcome within 30 seconds of their arrival.   You can do this!

Spread the Word about Entrepreneurship

You teach best what you most need to learn. ~Richard Bach Clearly this country needs more successful entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is an exceptionally difficult profession, but it is also one of the most rewarding. Entrepreneurs take care of their staff and their families all while building a legacy through their work and contributions. The bottom line is entrepreneurs make a difference in so many lives. One of the most satisfying things to see is a new entrepreneur come into their own. As with many other things, an entrepreneur’s confidence increases exponentially the longer they are in the role, and I have watched this progression many times. One lady I was assisting had me convinced that running a business was not her cup of tea. She just had no self-confidence at all. If I had been asked to make a prediction, I would have said she would throw in the towel and walk away from the business. But I was wrong. She learned her business and blossomed in the role. Now she is the epitome of self-confidence. The business was the vehicle that allowed her to find her confidence. Though entrepreneurship is vitally important to our country, it gets very little recognition. In fact, many people do not even realize it is a viable occupation. Many times while at FSU, students would tell me they did not know that they could major in entrepreneurship or even that it was a valid and valued profession. I think every entrepreneur has an obligation to spread the word about entrepreneurship both to ensure our country remains great as well as to help people find a better way of life. For the past three years, I have taught entrepreneurship at the Youth Automotive Training Center in Deerfield Beach. The school was founded by Jim Moran as a way to give back to the community and help put troubled kids on a path to success. My role was to introduce entrepreneurship as a profession. What was surprising to me was that so many of these kids had no idea running your own business rather than going to work for someone else was an option. Recently, I was contacted by the Gadsden Correctional Facility and was asked to give a series of classes on entrepreneurship. Initially, I was hesitant because I had no idea if this audience would be receptive to what I needed to tell them. And quite frankly, going to prison was not exactly what I thought I would be doing at this stage in my life. However, despite these concerns, I agreed. A minimum-security prison encircled with razor wire, this facility holds 1,500 women inmates. There are many checks before you are let in, and each time I go, I am given an ID card and a special alarm to wear on my belt. If I am ever knocked down, the alarm will be tripped and the entire facility will be notified. It has been a memorable experience as much for the novelty of the situation as for the people I have had the opportunity to work with. I was completely hooked after the first class. They are better students than many I have taught and they really want to learn – more than many of my FSU students. They are engaged, respectful and they just know this is what they need to do to provide for themselves and their family. I can truthfully say that I look forward to this activity every week as I am giving these women hope and knowledge for their futures. Now go out and consider how you can help spread the word about the importance of entrepreneurship and how to get into this field. There are countless venues where you can do just that. Junior Achievement, for example, is always looking for volunteers to teach entrepreneurship in the public and private school systems.  You can do this!

Answering Staff's Questions

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.” ~Bernard Baruch There is no question in my mind that the primary job of a manager or entrepreneur is to help their staff progress and support each employee’s efforts. Your job as the leader of the team is not just to provide a fountain of answers, but to enable your staff to become the best they can be. So many times when I am consulting with organizations, I see managers who are so busy that all they have time to do is quickly answer questions. Of course, answering questions is important, but if this is the only way you are interacting with your staff, you are not empowering them or using your time efficiently. Simply answering the question at hand is effective only in the short term. It gets that staff member in and out of your office very quickly but does very little in the long term. Because questions are usually situation-specific, the employee will likely return again and again. There is no real exchange of knowledge and nothing to empower the staff member to deal with issues in the future. Think of each question as a training opportunity. Every time a staff member comes to you with a problem, you need to ask them what solution they would recommend. In the beginning, of course, they are not going to have solutions, but if you continue to ask them for their thoughts, they will eventually come to you with suggestions. Ultimately, of course, it is you who gives the ok, but making the employee think through the situation and propose a solution empowers them while helping develop necessary decision-making skills. If the employee cannot come up with a good solution, it is the manager’s job to coach them through the process. The first step is helping the staff member articulate what the real issues are. Then they need to identify how these issues affect the business. For example, consider an employee who is managing a new software conversion. The project is taking more hours than originally budgeted, so this staff member comes to you asking for permission to spend additional funds. Although going over budget is the problem this employee has brought to you, there is a deeper cause that needs to be addressed. Before dealing with the budget concern, you need to help the employee recognize what caused this problem in the first place and think about how the budgetary process might have been flawed. Once they understand the cause of the problem, without blame, it is so much easier for them to come up with a solution. Empowering your staff is the key to being a great manager. The more you can get your staff to figure out problems for themselves, the more they will feel like part of the team. As a bonus, if you train them to come up with good solutions, they will come to you less and you will have fewer interruptions to inhibit your productivity. Interruptions are the number one cause of time management issues. Now go out and make sure it is your practice to address staff questions as training opportunities. If you continue to ask your employees to offer their own possible solutions, you will develop better decision-makers. I promise your company and staff will be stronger for it. You can do this!

Gamification for your Business!

“Enterprise gamification, making everyday business tasks such as data entry and management training more engaging, continues to see burgeoning interest.” ~Wall Street Journal Occasionally in my columns I highlight emerging technologies that entrepreneurs should be aware of and consider for their operations. This week, I want to talk about gamification, a new tool that has many neat applications for businesses. The word was coined in 2004 and, in 2010, became widely used. The basic idea is to apply gaming theory to business settings or environments, which means you first have to have an understanding of these attributes. The first relevant theory is the concept of behavioral momentum. This refers to the tendency of a player to continue doing what they have been doing. A second concept deals with giving rewards when success is achieved. Thirdly, there is the concept of blissful productivity, which addresses the fact that people prefer to be working hard in a game and earning more rewards for their hard work. A fourth concept, discovery, refers to building in opportunities for gamers to discover new attributes about the case. This is used heavily in the classic game, World of Warcraft, in which players can find new lands to explore as they progress through the game. There are many other attributes that game designers use to make their games more exciting and addictive, but these four relatively universal concepts can be applied in business environments to make a mundane task much more interesting. Salesforce has used gamification to support their popular CRM platform. Salesforce applies various game mechanics and enables direct competition among the users within an organization. Incorporating competition drives additional user engagement in the system. Another system called CheckPoints allows firms to drive product engagement by applying gaming-style rewards for certain shopping behaviors. Users are incentivised to scan specific products for CheckPoints, which can then be exchanged as virtual currency for rewards such as gift cards. One of my favorite products is called Fitbit. Fitbit works like a pedometer on steroids by recording both the number of steps you take and stairs you climb each day. Data is recorded both wirelessly through the Internet and on the Fitbit device itself. During my recent visit to London with my daughter and grandson, my Fitbit said we walked over 12 miles and 33 flight of stairs in one day. This data helped explain why we were so exhausted that day! Fitbit uses a number of gamification concepts to encourage you to walk more. The day we walked 12 miles, they sent me a badge to reward us for walking over 20,000 steps. Fitbit also has a new weight scale that wirelessly connects to their website to give you a history of your weight loss. When I lost three pounds, they sent me a congratulatory email, which is a wonderful way to get rewarded for this achievement. The concept of gamification will become more and more important for businesses over time. Its many applications can be useful to a wide variety of business types, so take some time now to learn about this neat new concept and see if it is appropriate for your operation. You can do this!

Education is the Key to Success

Education is the Key to Success By nature, entrepreneurs are very busy. They tend to be understaffed and wear many, many hats. It is not unusual for an entrepreneur to juggle numerous responsibilities including management, marketing, accounting and even IT. Though being busy comes with the territory, it is imperative entrepreneurs make time for their own training and education.  With so many trends at work out there, the business environment is always evolving. Technology is one of the most obvious examples of this. Technological innovations are constantly occurring, and even if you plan to outsource the department, you must have adequate knowledge to make informed decisions. Where these trends are concerned, it takes continuous education to ensure you stay in the know so you are able to meet the ever-changing challenges of running your business. I strongly suggest every entrepreneur takes three to four days off each year to attend an educational seminar.  I know some folks will argue with me on this – it happens quite a bit. Without a staff member trained to run things in their absence, they say it is impossible to get away. Though I would agree this is a valid concern, it is critical that you find a way to take time off for a number of important reasons.  For one thing, allowing your business to be entirely reliant on you for its daily operation undermines its valuation. In addition, as I already mentioned, getting the proper education is imperative to the future of your business. Last, but definitely not least, you need to be able to step away to recharge your batteries.  At any given time, there is a nearly endless offering of seminars and conferences – Google produced more than eight million results just for technology-related seminars for entrepreneurs.  Having attended my fair share of conferences, I know that for every great seminar out there, there are many that are just not worth the time. For this reason, attending seminars for the sake of attending seminars will get you nowhere fast. You need to be sure the conferences you are attending are bringing value to you and your business, but how do you know in advance which ones are best? Selecting the right seminar starts with determining your needs, and you are much better off finding one that prepares you for a future issue rather than one that addresses an existing problem. Unlike future concerns, existing problems are typically already pretty well defined, so it is not worth the time or expense.  Once you have settled on the topic, look for a seminar that incorporates experiential learning, which actively engages the participant. I prefer seminars that use the Case Methodology, also known as the Socratic Method. I find they are more effective as participants are forced to solve the problem themselves and the instructor’s role is to assist and facilitate.  Finally, it may be tempting to attend a nearby, inexpensive seminar, but your decision should not be based solely on the lowest cost option. Rather, you should always ask yourself what will bring you and your business the maximum value. These may not be cheap, but it is worth the cost to invest in your own education for the future of your business.  Now go out and make sure you have a plan in place to attend an educational conference at least once a year.  You can do this.