Management Advice For The Control Freak

Probably the biggest obstacle to success in the workplace is the control freak manager. In order to be a successful manager, you cannot have your hands on everything that comes through your department or business.  There are so many reasons why that strategy is doomed to fail, I don't have room to list them, but here are some of the biggest and what you need to do about it.

Do you find yourself in meetings all day long and with a longer to-do list at the end of the day? As the manager, your job is to set direction and coach your employees to carry out the plan. You can't do that if you aren't available to make it happen. If you can't trust your employees to sit in most of those meetings, then you haven't hired the right people.

If there is a customer problem do you jump in to fix it? Are you really doing the right thing for your company by doing that? Yes, customers are important, but it is equally important for your employees to know how to fix problems. If you train your customers to always come to you for customer service, then you are doing your staff and the customer a disservice. As your business grows, having you as Mr. or Ms. Fixit will only lead to delays and upset customers.

Do you ever ask your customers or employees for input? Why not? Think you have all the answers? It is always smarter to go to the source for input. You are not as close to it as you think.

Does any work leave your department or business without you having seen it? Even if you aren't an engineer you should be familiar with the concept of a bottleneck. In this case, that would be you. Once again, if you can't trust your employees to get the job done, then you have done a poor job hiring or training.

And the biggest reason to cure your control problem? It sends a very destructive message to your employees that they aren't capable or trustworthy. Would you want to work for someone who makes you feel that way?