Joan Lloyd

All of us were thrilled when Ed was promoted as our manager. We all respect his

technical skill and knowledge of the field. What we didn't expect was Ed's unwillingness

to let go. It's really creating some serious morale problems around here."

Maybe you've worked for someone like Ed. Worse still, maybe you are someone like

Ed.

The problem is a common one: a highly competent technical performer is recognized

with a promotion to a managerial post. As a manager, the individual can't keep his

fingers out of the day-to- day work of his employees.

Overcontrol kills. It's as simple as that. It kills your career as a manger and the careers

of your subordinates. As a manager who won't let go you find yourself working harder

and longer than anyone else in the unit. You are constantly "rolling up your sleeves,"

"staying close to the work," "just checking" and "making sure it's done right."

As the subordinate under such a manager, you can feel distrusted, underutilized,

stressed and resentful. "Why bother" is often heard around the coffee machine. After

awhile, the good performers leave and the mediocre ones will slip to new lows.

Overcontrol can be caused by many things. Some of these managers believe no one

can do the job as well as they can. Others may be fearful of their own boss. Some

simply don't want to stop doing the technical work that has given them strokes and

satisfaction.

Whatever the motivation, overcontrol will hurt your career as a manager: It gets you

from both ends and traps you in the middle. Without a groomed replacement, you can't

move up. And if you don't delegate authority to season and develop your replacement,

you'll never be free to tackle new responsibilities yourself.

To determine if you're over-supervising, ask yourself:

 Do I often tell my employees how to do the details of their work?

 Do I take assignments back, after delegating them, because my employee

 Do I do work that could be done by my employees?

 After delegating an assignment, do I frequently check with my employee to

 When my employee runs into a problem, do I rarely ask, "What do you think

 Do I put off or ignore managerial responsibilities like performance appraisals

runs into a problem?

"see how it's going?"

you should do?

and career-development discussions.

If you answered "yes" to some of these questions, you may be too close for comfort.

If you are overcontrolling, face it and fix it.

Start by setting some goals for yourself. For example, "During the next month, I will not

check on any project until the due date."

When delegating an assignment, resist the temptation to elaborate on the "how to."

Instead, only discuss the end result you desire. Provide resources if the person is

inexperienced or the work is new to the employee.

Dive into the task of learning your real job - managing others. If you give it half a

chance, you may find it's twice as rewarding as you ever dreamed it could be.

Joan Lloyd is a Milwaukee-based executive coach, organizational & leadership

development strategist. She has a proven track record spanning more than 20 years,

and is known for her ability to help leaders and their teams achieve measurable, lasting

improvements. Email your question to Joan at info@joanlloyd.com and visit

www.JoanLloyd.com to search an archive of more than 1600 of Joan’s articles. Contact

Joan Lloyd & Associates (414) 354-9500. ©Joan Lloyd & Associates, Inc.