Undermanagement continues to be a leading cause of preventable problems at work. Too many leaders are failing to provide the guidance, structure, and support that their teams need to succeed. And it is costing organizations every day.
Probably the most common complaint from managers and supervisors is that they simply do not have enough time to manage others on top of all the other work for which they are responsible. But the irony is that, in the long run, undermanagement costs managers more in time and effort than simply managing in the first place.
There are eight costs of undermanagement that may be hiding in plain sight in your organization. If these are recurring issues despite your best efforts to fix them, it’s time to consider undermanagement as a possible cause.
1. Unnecessary problems regularly occur.
Perhaps there’s an employee with a recurring performance issue that they can’t seem to fix. Or maybe a team is often involved in many, many rounds of drafts and revisions, even with the smallest assignments. It can be easy to blame the employee or employees in question in this case. But these recurring problems may be the result of a manager who is failing to sufficiently spell out expectations at the outset of an assignment, or effectively delegate a new task to someone.
2. Small, manageable problems escalate into bigger, less manageable problems.
In this case, the manager is either not engaged enough in the team’s ongoing work to identify small problems early, or, they are afraid to address small problems, usually for fear of micromanaging. But when small problems are allowed to fly under the radar, they become bigger problems later on in the process. By then, it’s already too late, and the team has to be pulled into firefighting mode for a while.
3. Resources are squandered.
Somewhere along the way, resources were either not adequately planned for, or a gap in communication resulted in wasted resources for one reason or another. In either case, it’s the manager’s responsibility to ensure that waste is minimized by clearly spelling out expectations, requirements, next steps, goals, and deadlines at the outset and every step of the way.
4. People go in the wrong direction on basic tasks, responsibilities, or projects.
Simply put, if the manager is not engaged in regular, ongoing, one-on-one dialogue with every single employee they are responsible for, that manager is not going to be able to effectively course correct. No one will know they are performing a task sub optimally or incorrectly unless their manager provides that feedback.
5. Low performers hold onto their jobs for longer.
Likely the most pernicious cost of undermanagement is low performers going undetected by an unengaged manager. These employees cost organizations in terms of quality and productivity, all while collecting a paycheck. It’s not that you necessarily have to fire them either – it could just be that with a more highly-engaged manager, these employees would radically improve in a relatively short amount of time.
6. Mediocre performers are more likely to mistake themselves for high performers.
It’s easy for managers to say, “So what? Let people think what they want about their performance.” But this is ultimately an issue of morale. If mediocre performers start to think they are high performers, they will start to wonder why they aren’t being given the same rewards and recognition as the real high performers.
7. High performers are more likely to think about leaving or actually turn over, leaving open positions.
High performers want their results to be recognized for what they are. That usually means some kind of reward in line with that performance, whether the reward is tangible or intangible. But managers can never effectively reward employees in this way if they are not clearly spelling out the standards of high performance or keeping track of performance every step of the way.
8. Managers have a harder time delegating tasks to their direct reports.
In this case, either the manager is responsible for a task that they feel cannot be delegated to someone else, or because they haven’t delegated effectively to begin with. When managers practice the basics of high-structure, high-substance communication with direct reports, and ask the right questions, they are usually much better at delegating effectively.
—-
Read more about the costs of, causes of, and solutions to undermanagement in the Undermanagement Epidemic Report: 20 Year Update.