Whenever I talk with employees about the qualities of a bad manager, one item inevitably comes up – micromanagement. Employees do not like being micromanaged. Now that I think about it, I’ve never heard anyone say they like being micromanaged.
But whenever I’m trying to coach someone who has been labeled a micromanager, their response is “Me? I’m not a micromanager. I’m just being hands-on. That’s good, right?”
It’s true. Being a hands-on manager is considered by most to be a good thing. My definition of a hands-on manager is someone who is willing to do the same work as their employees. Here’s an example from my past:
via The Fine Line Between a Hands-On Manager and a Micromanager.