“I can do it better myself!” How many times have you thought that during the course of your day. Chances are, if you are thinking that and acting on that thought, you are micromanaging your department. You more than likely go home frustrated every day. But, let me tell you something else, you are not going home nearly as frustrated as your managers and line staff.
It All Starts with Hiring
When recruiting managers and line staff to join your team, you no doubt go through a very time-consuming process to find the ideal candidate to fill a spot. After all, that is what the interviewing process is for, right? You put the candidate in scenarios to find out how they would handle situations. While new hires no doubt need training, their interview answers are what led you to believe you had the right manager for the job when you hired him or her. So, why are you not allowing them to do their job?
Waiting for Your Approval
One of the easiest ways to realize you are micromanaging your staff is when they are constantly “waiting on you” for something to happen. WE can’t open the banquet room until YOU approve the set up. WE can’t fax over the BEO until YOU approve the final contract. WE can’t present the bill to the client until YOU look it over to make sure everything is okay.
There are simply too many tasks throughout the day for you to be able to personally put your stamp of approval on all of them. If you have trained your staff properly, they will be more than able to handle these tasks. This is not to say you can’t spot check things, but there is simply no need to personally approve every detail of every aspect of the day.
Correcting the Problem
Letting go is very tough for some people to do, especially since your job depends on your team’s performance. But, if you trained them properly, they will be able to do the job if you just let them. There is an old proverb that sums this up best…
“If you give a man a fish, he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to fish, you do him a good turn.”
Point being, you have to stop doing your staff’s job for them. Teach them, train them, mentor them, then set them free. Allow them to make decisions on their own and you will soon be amazed at not only how much better your department is performing but also how much better you feel about your own job at the end of the day.
Does your hotel or organization need better managers to help take the operation to the next level? Joseph David International is a hospitality recruiting service that doesn’t just find a manager but rather finds the RIGHT manager for your property and needs. For more information about our executive-level manager recruiting services, click here.
Photo By monkeybusiness