You could spend your days scrutinizing and questioning every decision your employees make. Or, you could provide them with the training that will allow them to make decisions you can trust.

Micromanagement is usually a symptom of a manager’s inability to judge whether her employees can perform well without her input. You can avoid this mistake by investing your resources in your staff, as well as in your products.

Problem: Most micromanagers don’t even realize what they’re doing. Look for these warning signs, then combat them with our suggestions:

Red flag: You often perform employees’ tasks for them to ensure the job is done well. As a manager, it’s your job to develop your staff so that they can perform their duties. Completing their tasks for them doesn’t challenge them and it doesn’t increase their skills.

Training solution: Devote at least one third of your budget to employee development. Use that money to send your employees to seminars and workshops that will enhance their business acumen and critical-thinking skills.

Best: After your staffers return from their educational workshops, ask them to train the rest of your staff on the new information.

Red flag: You block employees from strategic planning sessions. Micromanagers often don’t include employees in strategic planning and, therefore, fail to see potential stumbling blocks until it’s too late.

Training solution: You can gauge your employees’ strategic thinking by including them in planning sessions before disaster strikes. This way, you learn to trust them and they learn to look for potential problems that you may not see.

Filed under: Management Minute