Stop Micromanaging to Improve Employee Focus and Collaboration

by | Mar 15, 2019

With the opportunity to track metrics becoming more readily available for all types of businesses, some organizations invest heavily into time-tracking software and other KPIs that they believe will help their team be more efficient in the workplace. However, this might be having a negative effect on the quality of work being performed. Irv Shapiro, CEO of DialogTech, suggests that, instead of tracking time, employers should be tracking results. Granted, we understand that you have a budget and payroll to consider. This type of business model doesn’t suit every organization’s needs, such as those who offer services by the hour. However, this doesn’t mean that you should let it get in the way of improving internal options.

Shapiro states: “Unless your business sells services by the hour, it makes little sense to measure your employees by the hour. Instead employers should measure their employee’s success by the results they produce.”

We know that letting go of the reins a bit can be nerve-wracking for some business owners, but studies have shown that autonomous employees are usually the best employees. A study by Gensler reveals some interesting numbers concerning how employees work when given a choice in the matter:

  • Employees with choice were 7 percent more focused.
  • Employees with choice were 4 percent more effective at collaboration.
  • Employees with choice were 3 percent more effective at learning.
  • Companies that offer choice and autonomy in how their employees do their work grow four times as fast, and experience only a third of the turnover of businesses that want more control.

At first, these numbers seems minor and inconsequential, but if you think about it, nobody works at their best when they’re micromanaged. Giving your team the freedom to schedule themselves and work as they see fit can allow them to flourish, and when your team feels good, they’ll work harder and improve performance. As you might expect, choice drastically improves the employee experience. Innovation, job performance, job satisfaction, and workplace satisfaction, all increase as a result of reducing the amount of control you exert over your employees’ time. After all, a quality service is a quality service, and if you want the best work possible, employees shouldn’t be rushed. For our point of view on business technology management, it also makes sense to do the same for your business technologies. Many hands-on owners are often heavily involved in their IT needs, as well. But as a business owner, you need results, and the best way to get them is by calling ActiveCo Technology Management at 604.931.3633. We don’t care how much time it takes. We’ll deliver you the comprehensive IT support you need to succeed. It may take some time to let go, especially for those owners who enjoy the go-go-go that tracking KPI’s and hands-on management of their people and technology provides them. Your employees were hired for a reason, trust them. And you may find trusting an outsourced company like ActiveCo to manage your data, security, hardware and software needs is worth the investment as well.

Related Article:

Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work (and What to Do Instead)

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Mina Moghadas

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