Do You Micro-Manage Slackers?
People are mad that Elaine avoids work – and sick of her “good excuses”. There are two different views about what their manager, Beth, should do:
- She should meet with Elaine at the start and end of every day to check on whether she’s doing her assignments or not.
- She should give assignments to everyone according to skills and interests and follow up with everyone – in group meetings.
That 1st option is called micro-managing. Singling out the slackers for a double dose of attention is a poor use of a manager’s time and energy.
The 2nd view suggests a way to use feedback: make a list of everyone’s primary assignments with milestones and due dates – a simple way to keep agreements visible to all. The Assignment Calendar is a manager’s best friend.
Beth took that advice and posted an Assignment Calendar showing everyone’s assignment timelines. “It was much easier than I thought it would be,” she reported. “I made a chart listing each staff person, with the Friday due dates for the next 2 months as column-headers. Then I entered their milestones into the chart.”
She also said the best part was that her Tuesday staff meetings got much simpler too. “We just go down the column for this coming Friday and everyone reports their assignment status: who’s on track, needs support, how things are going. Elaine isn’t special anymore – she has to participate to keep from embarrassing herself.”