No one enjoys being micromanaged, at least not anyone who takes pride in what they do. If you’ve recently been approached with an attractive job offer but don’t know how to decide, make sure to read this article on micromanagement before continuing.
For seniors or anyone with a solid work experience, you will know the invaluable importance of an empowering senior and or management. In a recent Ted talk, Chieh Huang, co-founder and CEO of Boxed.com talks about micromanagement, more specifically, he talks about recovering from being a micromanager.
In the Ted talk he shares his view of why he and other people end up being micromanagers. The idea is quite straightforward.
People who are good at doing their work are usually rewarded with… more work. Pretty soon, these people who are good at doing the work gets recognised and promoted to doing some work while managing the people doing the work. Not long after, they become the people managing the people doing the work, and for Huang, it is at this point when people lose control over the output of their jobs, becoming micromanagers.
Micromanagement Lowers Employee Engagement
By now most people agree that micromanagement is bad and damages company culture, but why?
A major reason according to Psychology Today is because long-term micromanagement squashes autonomy, a primary motivator of employees and something that keeps them engaged at work.
On top of that, micromanagement encroaches on employee growth and creativity by restricting an individual’s freedom to learn and expand. According to a study by TINYpulse, micromanagement has a positive relationship with high turnover rates, finding that 28% of employees were more likely to consider changing jobs when they were regularly being micromanaged.
Deciding on an Offer That Won’t Burn You Out
With the current candidate driven market in Hong Kong and across Asia, it is likely that you were recently contacted by a recruiter or headhunter with an attractive offer. As someone with experience, you know that more than the salary and benefits package, a great role is one that will allow you to grow as an individual.
Want to find a role that won't suck in the long run? A quick search online for “job interview tips” and “signs of micromanagement” will give you a list of articles on how to spot a micromanager, and they usually boil down to a few key points.
- Gut feel
- People looking miserable
- The boss was downright rude
But how practical are these tips really when you’re in a professional setting, such as that of a job interview where both parties are most likely to be in their best behaviour (especially when you’re a key hire)?
In fact, we argue that instead of taking the loss aversion approach of trying to spot a “bad” micromanager, the more useful solution would be finding a “great” manager who you’ll want to work with for a long time coming.
