Micromanagement stunts your growth

As a corporate employee that started at the bottom so to speak and earned my stripes to get into management, I was able to bounce around and see different types of leadership in action. I was the recipient of different types of leadership. 

As kids we dream of "one thing we would do if we were president". Normally it is no homework for all school aged kids. 

As I experienced various types of leadership, I quickly decided that micromanagement would not be my leadership style. It was the "one thing I would do as a manager."

As defined in the Trainual Blog post "4 Signs of Micromanagement":
Micromanagement is a leadership style where managers excessively supervise their direct reports. So, rather than delegating a task and trusting it will get done, a micromanager will hover over each step as it is performed, insert themselves into the process, or take over completely. If they do delegate, micromanagers want the task done exactly how they would do it but provide minimal context or coaching to help the team member succeed. 

For me it was extremely frustrating.

"Micromanagement isn't always bad, but it is almost always not good."

I did not want to come to work. I didn't enjoy work. I stopped caring about the well being of the company, and started only focusing on the things that would keep my manager off of my back. 

As I moved into leadership I was rewarded for my leadership style. Not in corporate accolades, or recognition from the senior leaders. Rather, I was rewarded with a team that stood by my side through thick and thin. They had my back at all times, and they told me how much they loved being on my team. 

A team that will "ride or die" is the ultimate reward. 

After I defected from the corporate world and tapped into my hidden entrepreneurship spirit, micromanagement became easier (sadly).

My business was my baby. It was an extension of me.
My clients were my friends and I cared for their perception of my company above all else. 

When I started hiring people my micromanagement started to become a problem. I still had to be on every job. Estimates were lost or forgotten. Voicemail was piling up. Family time was shrinking.

Basically.... I was losing control. I didn't have enough time to do everything anymore. 

I had to go back in time. I had to lean on my corporate experience to find efficiency opportunities. I implemented a CRM to organize all of my data, my schedule, my client communications, estimating, invoicing etc. I maintain that this was probably one of the best investments I ever made. I cannot stress this enough. 

In the restoration industry, moving away from Xactimate and developing your own price list will have such a dramatic impact on your business. JobProgress is a very good option for those interested. We have a discount link for those interested in signing up that will save you on setup and monthly costs. Be sure to reach out if you would like to learn more.

Once I realized that I was in the way of my business thriving, I began focusing on training my technicians on what they were accountable for. They knew how to do the work. The work was relatively easy. If they were going to be successful in my company without me being on the job, they needed to understand that above all, they were accountable to get a 5 start review from all clients. They were accountable to do the things necessary to leave a great impression with the clients. 
As part of leaving a great impression with clients, they had to perform the task professionally, and safely. They had to leave the clients house better than when we arrived in every area. If we had to work around flower beds, we needed to make sure that the mulch wasn't lumpy and no yard ornaments were knocked over. We had to make sure that all furniture was put back in place and that no foot prints were left on the floors for any reason. 

The only way I was going to scale my business was to get out of the way of the excellent people that I hired. In order to do that, they had to understand what they were accountable for. 
I had to have measurables in place to be able to monitor the business. 

Creating processes and procedures are vital to you being able to get off the job to focus on working on the business. A good leader creates good leaders. 

Read that again.

Good leaders create good leaders.

Use the E.D.G.E. model to train.

• Educate - Explain the process and the accountability
• Demonstrate - Physically show them how to do it. 
• Guide - Let them do it with you by their side
• Evaluate - Follow up evaluation to ensure the process is being followed. Coach as needed

As you build out and document your processes and procedures, you'll need a system to house them. Using a cloud based storage platform is a common practice. However, there is no way to effectively and efficiently roll out changes, or hold people accountable for training. 

Using a system like Trainual as your business playbook becomes invaluable. Trainual becomes the system by which you train your team. It becomes the system by which you onboard new employees. 
If you document how it’s done with you’ll only have to explain it once. That training then becomes infinitely repeatable and scalable for every role that needs to know it, and nothing slips through the cracks. A system like Trainual will allow you to push out changes in processes and procedures, track who is up to date on the company training and so much more. 

As you begin the journey of getting off the jobs and into the owners seat, it is important that you evaluate every single task that comes through your day.

Ask yourself this question first.

1. Can I eliminate this task from the company?
   If the answer is no, then the 2 follow up questions are:
2. can I automate this task?
   or
3. Can I delegate this task? 

 Another powerful tool for managing tasks is the Eisenhower Matrix.

You can get a free copy here.

As always, feel free to reach out if you are ready to take the next step in your business and get out of the truck so you can regularly sit in the leadership set. You can reach out here.