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Micromanagement: the Enemy of Staff Morale

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Micromanagement: the Enemy of Staff Morale AWARD-WINNING WELLNESS p. 28 CorrectionsSeptember/October 2019 Today WE CAN DO IT! p. 32 NEWS&VIEWS AND MORE American Correctional Association Corrections Today September/October 2019 Vol. 81, No. 5 Features 22 Getting the job done Breaking the fishbowl Getting the job done 44 An interview with Jeffrey Carson, At the table with Randy Shively detention center superintendent By Molly Law, M.A. for the St. Louis Department of Public Safety By Casandra DePalma An award-winning 28 approach to wellness Prince George’s County Employee Support Unit’s On TRAC to Rebuilding holistic model of care receives nationwide acclaim 42 Themselves By Robert Breckenridge II By Rachel Friederich We can do it! Same name, new face 32 Women’s influence on the 48 ACA’s Program Book goes digital corrections industry By Robert Breckenridge II and Molly Law, M.A. By Andria Warren, MPA Micromanagement: 36 the enemy of staff morale By John A. Shuford 2 — September/October 2019 Corrections Today I STAFF MORALE MICROMANAGEMENT: THE ENEMY OF STAFF MORALE BY JOHN A. SHUFORD 36 — September/October 2019 Corrections Today Identifying micromanagement taff morale is a major concern A micromanager is a manager who exercises excessive in corrections (see Corrections and unnecessary control over staff, gets involved in the SToday, March/April 2019).1 A major details of their work, often overrides their decisions and is contributing factor to low staff morale is not open to feedback from them. They strongly believe in micromanagement. Employees do not like a top-down decision-making process and feel they know to be micromanaged and most supervisors how to do their staff’s work better than staff does. They do not want to be known as micromanagers. frequently ask for updates, demand to be copied on cor- Micromanagement disempowers, demotivates respondence and may enjoy correcting what they see as and disengages staff. It causes a rift between mistakes. Ironically, this need to exercise control eventu- management and staff resulting in staff ally leads to less control, because the important tools of resisting any changes administration wants leadership become less available, i.e., motivation, two- to make, which often leads to frustration and way communication, staff creativity and ingenuity, and stagnation. Consistently, staff have reported collaboration. that the three most common reasons for With micromanagement, “morale suffers as subordi- leaving the correctional service are conflicts nate employees feel the administration does not trust their with co-workers, poor supervision and feeling ability and competency as corrections officers, effectively that management does not support them; all driving a wedge between management and subordinates. of which are significantly impacted by micro- This causes ‘disengagement’ of the employee as he or she management. feels controlled and not led. Productivity and creativity Low staff morale is contagious and results suffer as the subordinate employee tends to only do what in a lack of trust and respect, high callouts is necessary to get by and consider their work as only a and no-shows, favoritism, poor/ineffective job and will not make suggestions on any improvements communication, high turnover, procedures that could be made. An employee puts in time but little not being followed, excess use of force and else, and his apathy affects not only his own productivity, corruption. This results in high stress and can but also that of his colleagues. Micromanagement tells an lead to suicide, depression, sleep disorders, employee that you do not trust their work or judgment.”2 anxiety and other mental health conditions. Micromanagers lack leadership skills and tend to:3 High turnover is especially troubling because – Resist delegating work it usually means working short-staffed and – Immerse themselves in the work assigned to others with inexperienced co-workers. The bottom – Look at the details instead of the big picture line is that micromanagement is a serious is- – Discourage others from making decisions sue; it is the enemy of staff morale and should – Get involved in the work of others without be addressed as a serious security issue. consulting them – Monitor what’s least important and expect regular reports on miscellany – Push aside the experience and knowledge of colleagues – Lose loyalty and commitment – Focus on the wrong priorities – Have a demotivated team → Illustration: istock/erhui1979 Corrections Today September/October 2019 — 37 I STAFF MORALE Some examples of micromanagement are: There may be any number of reasons a supervisor – A warden sent an email to staff, without any micromanages: discussion with the department head, indicating – Lack of a role model: their previous supervisors that he had observed them spending a lot of time lacked leadership skills and were micromanagers, talking to each other and that this was an office or they have not had a supervisor in their previous setting and not a social gathering. He requested positions. they remain in their offices, working. The de- – The work culture does not support leaders: toxic partment head had been successfully working or hierarchical power-based management; supervi- with her staff to improve morale and this memo sors are undermined by management, politicians, devastated her efforts. It also undermined her union or a few powerful staff or inmates. position as department head. (Note: the warden – Lack of trust in staff: staff are unknown to the complained about not having enough time to get supervisor or are known but have a history of cor- all his work done.) ruption or ineptitude. – One unit manager had an in-out board in his – Lack of training: little or no orientation; no em- office, which was in a separate building one ployment position to prepare them for promotion mile from the office of one of his sergeants. He to supervisor (like a team leader or corporal); or no required his staff to stop by his office so he could soft skills training. see them and move their markers on the in-out – Low self-esteem: they need to be in control and board every day they came to work and left. One always right. day, the sergeant reported to the unit manager’s – Lack of confidence in their own abilities or they office and spoke with him but forgot to move his feel more comfortable continuing to do their marker on the in-out board. When he got to his previous job. They may have been promoted own office, the unit manager called him and said he forgot to move his marker and demand- ed he drive back to the unit manager’s office and move the marker, which was five feet from the unit manager’s desk. – A classic example of a micromanager is re- ported by a CO with many years’ experience and very competent to handle all situations in his job. The supervisor “wants to be involved in every nut and bolt of the solution process of tasks he has given me to complete. He demands that you keep him informed of every step you are taking to solve the problem and he will give his input at each step. I even told him several times that he was wasting both our time. It would be easier for him to take care of it than to have me chasing back and forth to him de- tailing step by step what I was doing. He would not budge at all.” istock/marchmeena29 38 — September/October 2019 Corrections Today before they were ready for the authority and and can make decisions based on their own “correct” responsibility. perceptions. This leads to them being less and less able – Fear of looking bad or being disconnected and to perceive people’s traits and understand their moti- uninformed about the actual work at a CO level. vations, resulting in them relying more and more on – Feel everything is too important to delegate; they stereotypes and their own vision for navigation. This is cannot prioritize. difficult for an individual to change because it is not a – Poor promotion process: inadequate assessment; cognitive process but a subconscious one. It generates no feedback-informed process; or favoritism. from the limbic system in the brain, where emotions also originate. There is an actual physical change in To understand the negative impact of microman- the brain that occurs over time. Researchers found that agement on staff morale, it is helpful to consider the it was difficult, if not impossible for people in power psychological needs of staff (see Corrections Today to change their behavior simply by thinking their way March/April 2019).4 There are four basic psychologi- to change.5 It is especially difficult in an “us vs. them” cal needs of staff: connection or belonging to a group; environment, which increases anxiety, depression and meaning or being recognized for what you have contrib- decreases empathy. Further, “where there is less em- uted; control over one’s life and circumstances; and fun pathy in a culture, there is less democratic process and or engaging in enjoyable activities. Micromanagement more totalitarian governing.”6 defeats all of these by disempowering, demotivating and disengaging staff. I have heard staff say they used to feel like family, but all of that is gone now with the changing work culture. A significant reason for the The shift to seeing others not as negative change in work culture is that policy decisions are being made reactively rather than proactively (i.e., different but as similar seems to looking at what we want to prevent rather than where be the strongest way to influence we want to go). We need to stop looking in the rearview mirror and plan where we want to be in the future by empathic resonance or insight.
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