Are You a Control Enthusiast?

A current car rental commercial makes fun of a humorless customer who sees himself as a control enthusiast rather than a control freak. The caricature in the ad is funny. Working for one in real life is not.
Micromanagers often oppress their employees with their own insecurities, and they always create tension and stress. The result is job turnover.
If you’ve been following our recent posts, you know that the hiring market has tilted in favor of job seekers and is likely to remain that way for a long time. As this article with its accompanying quiz says, you can expect to pay 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual wage to replace them. That assumes you can find a replacement.
Bottom line? Control freaks are very costly to any organization. Because the habits often arise from a manager’s individual insecurity it’s not a bad idea to look up line if you identify a micromanager in your organization. After all, insecurity often rolls downhill.
The quiz is pretty obvious and it’s easy to make a perfect score. However, the habits it identifies are warning signs to all senior level managers. What do you expect of your managers? If you get an uncomfortable feeling answering the questions, take heart: there’s still time to change.
 

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