Striking a Balance Between Micro and Macromanagement

Being a boss can be stressful. There are many different principles that make up good leadership, but micromanagement and macromanagement are definitely not on that list. If you’re looking to start up a business and provide an excellent service to customers, then you need to have your employees on your side. First, let’s dive into what these two terms mean.
 
What is Micromanagement?
Micromanagement refers to managing small details. It focuses on attention to detail and trying to manage every small role or job in your workplace. A boss who micromanages too much often gets too involved with the work of their employees. They’ll look over shoulders all the time, walk around the office and peer into the screens of people and might even critique people who do things differently to how they would.
A lot of people don’t mind this until that boss gets too obsessive with other people’s work and doesn’t look at the big picture. They don’t trust their employees and as a result, it eventually demotivates their team. It’s just a case of focusing on the wrong priorities and spending too much time on something that should be entrusted to their staff.
What is Macromanagement?
The opposite end of the spectrum, macromanaging, is when a boss never actually shows up. A macromanager focuses too much on the big picture and will rarely ever show their face in the office. Instead, they will be in meetings with other companies, important clients, and taking business trips around the world to discuss expansion details with people.
Many employees like a macromanaging boss because they rarely show up and they’re never there to criticise work. However, when something does happen that requires the boss to show up, the employees are lost for what to do and the business could suffer damage as a result. In the long-term, working for a macromanager means that you don’t have opportunities to develop your skills and you’ll eventually become complacent about your job.
How to Balance This?
The perfect balance between micro and macromanagement lies within performance management business practices. It’s easy to screw this up during your first few weeks of starting a business, but there are many different tricks and methods you can use to manage employees on a larger scale. You don’t have to look over their shoulders to understand the work they are doing, and you need to give them room to be autonomous and have an opportunity to improve themselves with their own knowledge.
You don’t want to tell an employee everything they need to do to fix an issue. Instead, you need to let them work out the solution on their own. You can give them a helping hand and nudge them in the right direction, but never assume full control and do their work for them or else they will never learn.
For example, if an employee messed up something on an important spreadsheet, you need to bluntly tell them what they did wrong to first establish a reason why you’re talking to them. Then you need to tell them how they can change it or improve it, but then let them do the work themselves because that’s what you pay them for. Don’t change the spreadsheet yourself and neglect to tell your employee. It’s the communication and understanding between an employee and their boss that makes a successful workplace.