Although organisations continue to push to return to the office, remote work remains an option for many people and companies. Businesses with remote employees should find ways of managing and monitoring them. However, things can become complicated when balancing managing and micromanaging. Interfering too often and extensively with what remote employees are doing is not ideal and ruins productivity due to constant interruptions. So, how can businesses strike a balance between managing and micromanaging?
Set Measurable Goals and Clear Expectations
Businesses should always remember the importance of setting clear expectations and measurable goals. Doing so is especially important for companies with remote employees or as teams shift. Teams need clear directions, targets and continuing support. Get everything set up in advance and trust your team to execute without constant interruptions and check-ins.
Additionally, continuous monitoring and check-ins typical of micromanaging can result in disengaged and less productive remote workers.
Provide Help as Needed
Timing is essential when deciding when and how to provide the help and support that employees might need. The most helpful leaders know to wait and intervene when they see something wrong. This is very different from leaders who try to pre-empt every problem that might come up during a project.
Leaders who wait to provide support and help understand that employees are more receptive to help when they have already been engaged with a project and understand the challenges they are facing better than anyone else.
It is also good for managers and leaders to let remote workers know they are available should they encounter an issue. Doing this allows the employee to figure out the best ways to ask for help and how to use the person providing the support. The result is better outcomes and more receptive and productive remote workers.
Know When to Use Employee Monitoring Software
Instead of constant interruptions, emails and messages, many businesses ask their employees to install staff monitoring software. This is a good idea if managers and team leaders use such software for the right reasons. A common concern is that the staff monitoring software businesses use might have capabilities that worry employees, such as the ability to watch them on their webcams.
Businesses need to understand staff monitoring software and ethics to avoid ethical concerns arising from using this software. Using the software ethically means knowing when to use it and using it for the right reasons.
For example, it is OK to monitor employees who are suspected of wasting company time and resources. However, monitoring employees past office hours is not a good idea. An exception is when employees take on too much work at home, putting themselves at risk of burnout.
Hire the Right People
We have mentioned that leaders should trust their teams to execute once they set clear goals and expectations. However, this execution becomes problematic if the business does not have the right people working on projects.
Many leaders have found it easier to avoid being overly involved if they trust the people in charge of executing a company’s vision and successfully delivering projects. Top talent does not need to be monitored. The right people will drive results, outcomes and output and be more productive than people leaders and managers must constantly monitor.
Micromanaging top talent is also disadvantageous because they may leave when they feel they cannot work under those conditions. This leads to businesses having constant hiring rounds, which costs businesses precious resources.
Create the Right Rhythm of Involvement
It is also possible for leaders to be engaged without micromanaging, but it depends on how they approach it. The approach that works well is varying involvement depending on what employees need and how they receive help. The two main approaches are path clearing and intensive guidance.
Intensive guidance works well when employees have challenges that teams cannot solve with feedback over a few minutes or an hour. Leaders work closely with employees for a few days in intense sessions that help their teams overcome whatever issues they have.
Path clearing involves solving issues that make it difficult for employees to meet targets. By removing these obstacles, leaders ensure their teams can focus on core problems and results that bring business success and ensure client satisfaction.
Regardless of the approach leaders make, they have to ensure it is right for the employees on the receiving end of the assistance.
Micromanaging can look different depending on leaders and employees. Regardless, many employees dislike it, and it can harm the business. For this reason, leaders and managers should know how to monitor, manage and assist remote workers without micromanaging.
