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Why Micromanagement Leads to Project Failure?

Do you have the habit of micromanaging the projects? If so, you should consider changing your approach to project management. This is not just optional. It is imperative that you change your style of managing as it contributes to a lot of project problems in the long run.

Micromanagers do not recognize that their behavior have a negative impact on the team. However, sooner or later the strategy creates ripples in the project team leading to turnover, dampened morale, and project failure.

If you are still not convinced about the dangers of micromanagement, you will change your view after reading about the dangers of this approach to project management.

1. Lack of Flexibility

Micromanagement stifles the creativity of the project team. Lack of autonomy in making project decisions forces the employees to do exactly what you desire, and nothing more. They will not modify their actions according to the demand of work.

No one will be willing to step out of the box to achieve extraordinary results. Instead, the same performance will continue that will lead to the same results. This lack of flexibility will prevent the growth of the organization that results due to increased employee productivity.

2. High Staff Turnover

Another disadvantage of micromanaging your staff is that it will lead to high staff turnover. Companies can’t afford to lose employees as hiring and training the new staff entails costs. Also, new staff won’t be as productive as the previous staff.

Micromanagement either due to perfectionism or lack of trust is not worth the cost of high staff turnover. It robs the organization of the momentum and affects the bottom line of the company.

3. Self-Burnout

The fact is that micromanagement is downright exhausting. Micromanaging involves a greater amount of energy. A project manager will quickly burnout when micromanaging the staff. Managing each and every aspect of the employees’ tasks will make you burn out due to which you won’t be able to perform to your capacity. This will result in negative impact on the overall project outcome. When you micromanage, you will have less energy for other more important tasks such as curtailing costs, risk planning, and ensuring efficient use of resources.

To conclude, micromanagement is an outdated and inefficient strategy. It’s not only bad for the employees, but bad for you and the company. Ideally, a project manager should spend time in seeking suppliers, partners, board members, clients, and investors. The manager should also coordinate the efforts of the staff. This is much more important than micromanaging daily activities of the employees.

Consider using collaboration software to delegate tasks, set assignments, and measure performance of the employees. Being able to prioritize and monitor the employee’s progress through a work management software will save time and effort in managing the employees. You will have more time focusing on another more strategic aspect of the projects.