Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The podcast focuses on fiercely empowering women in business, as entrepreneurs and women in male-dominated industries, featuring guests who embody strength, resilience, competence, and a touch of sass as they navigate business and life.
Looking for guests who are willing to bring a wealth of experience and knowledge but also possess the strength, resilience, and sass that align with the tone of my podcast.
I want their stories and insights to provide immense value to my audience, helping me to establish a powerful podcast as a must-listen for women looking to empower themselves in business. The goal is to build competence and discover how brave women can be in business.
Welcome to Superheroes in Heels, the podcast where powerful women rise, lead, and own the room. I'm Kimberley Borgens, your host, fellow trailblazer, and unapologetic advocate for women in the world of business. With over thirty years of experience building success in a male dominant industry, I'm here to empower you to do the same. Each week, you'll hear bold conversations with inspiring guests who embody strength, resilience, a little dash of sass, and a little bit of grace. Together, we'll challenge the status quo, break through barriers, unlock your confidence, and unleash your inner superhero.
Kimberley Borgens:You ready? Let's go. Welcome back to superheroes in heels, the podcast where fierce, powerful women step into their confidence, their own space, and they lead with unstoppable presence. I'm your host Kimberley Borgens, and today we're tackling something that keeps way too many entrepreneurs stuck in stress, burnout, and frustration. What could that topic be?
Kimberley Borgens:Let's talk about micromanagement. Let's be honest. Micromanaging isn't leadership. It's fear dressed up as control, and it costs you trust, creativity, and your freedom, not to mention your sanity. So in this episode, I'm driving into how to stop, you know, micromanaging your clients, your vendors, and your team, and what to do instead if you're going to lead like a true CEO.
Kimberley Borgens:So why do we micromanage? You know, why is that a common thing for entrepreneurs, for many leaders, actually? Well, micromanagement comes from fear. It's a fear that things won't get done right or the fear of losing control, fear of failures. There's so many options we could choose from.
Kimberley Borgens:How many times have you heard or even said to yourself, it's just faster if I do it myself? What does that really mean? I mean, think about it. What it really means is maybe I don't trust anyone else to get it done. And just know that there's a hidden cost.
Kimberley Borgens:When we're doing everything on our own or we're trying to micromanage other people, we're creating exhaustion, resentment, and zero scalability. I don't know about you, but I wanna scale my business. Yeah. I remember in my early CEO years, I used to hover over every decision. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:It wasn't because I didn't like the people. It was just because, you know, I really had to stay connected to it. I mean, I had to approve my team's emails before they sent them out because I didn't trust they were saying the right things. I'd check their spelling. Let's see.
Kimberley Borgens:A review every client proposal. Alright. Some of you know what I'm talking about. I know it. You're you're doing the same thing that I used to do or some version thereof.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? It it kind of helped me feel in control. Some people used to call me a control freak, and there are some things that I'm a little freaky control about, but I am no longer a micromanager because I realized that I was the bottleneck of my own business. I was stopping things. I was preventing things from getting out on time.
Kimberley Borgens:You know, I was holding people up from doing their job. And if you think about for you, if you have to touch everything to make it work, you don't have a business. What you really have is a burnout plan. Now I'm blessed enough to have caught that early, learned some skills, and what I wanna do today is kinda share with you some things on how micromanagement shows up for people and then some solutions so that we can get past that micromanage phase. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:Some people don't micromanage. What they do is just kinda dump. They just let everybody else to do it, but then they take, they take all the credit for everything. That's not what I'm talking about here either. I just wanna point that out, and that's not this conversation.
Kimberley Borgens:But I do want you to know that there is also that side of it. So let's talk about how micromanagement shows up for people. Micromanagement shows up in our businesses for our clients, for example. Like, we're overchecking the process, constantly asking for updates, tweaking deliverables mid midstream. We're we're digging in or jumping in before their their deadline to get that information to us.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. If you're concerned about a deadline and we'll get into tips later. But if you're concerned about a deadline, create a deadline that's early, earlier than your actual deadline so that if there's some things that need to be course corrected later, you have time to make that happen. Never give somebody a deadline that's like your deadline. Okay?
Kimberley Borgens:I just that's a little quick tip there, especially working with clients, vendors, staff, anybody is I never give them my deadline. I create a deadline before that so I have time to help course correct that if necessary. But for our clients, it shows up by changing the scope of their work too often. I mean, I've talked about scope creep. So, you know, make sure that you're not doing that.
Kimberley Borgens:It it leads to confusion, creates problems, and it's not fair to the clients. How about hovering or, you know, like, to jump to say the next word without even, like, listening to our clients when we're coaching or consulting. We're not allowing our our clients to take ownership of their results, and that's creating more problems. You you're creating a space where you need to be needed when in reality, what you wanna do is create the space that you're valued, that your opinions matter, that they want to continue to work with you because you're guiding them in the right direction. But when you're micromanaging your clients, that's not what happens.
Kimberley Borgens:How about our vendors? You know, not trusting professionals to do what you hired them to do. How about redefining everything your graphic designer or your copyright writer sends? I know for me, like, when I first started with a copywriter, I didn't feel that she had my voice yet. So she would create stuff.
Kimberley Borgens:I'd go back. I'd retype it. But I only did it for a short period of time until she could get my voice. Once she got my voice, it was like, you go girl. And then I never even looked at them again until they came out.
Kimberley Borgens:So you have to pay attention to how you're micromanaging those people that you're hiring to help you. You know? How about, giving too many how to directions instead of focusing on the what, the why, and the vision? Our when our vendors know our what and our why and our vision, then they're the ones who can help create the space for us to step into their gifts and their talents because they can back us knowing what our what and our why and our vision are. And then our staff, how it shows up with staff.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. And it shows up with our family and our kids. It's kinda the same way as it does with our staff. So just keep that in mind, but not negotiating with our staff or renegotiating when when a deadline meets, not delegating decisions. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:Everything has to go through you versus somebody else can manage it. Overcorrecting small errors. Right? Sometimes the errors need to happen so that we can course correct them so that it can get fixed for long term stuff or refusing to let people fail and learn from those failures. You're robbing them of growth.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't wanna rob them from growth. So you wanna ask yourself maybe just this little question here. Do I want to control, or do I want results? Because you can't have both at the same time. Somebody just gasp right now.
Kimberley Borgens:You cannot have control if you want the results because the results could happen, but it's you pushing, you forcing, you making it happen. And it's really the results really are you have two people working for the same for the same amount of money. Like, why are you paying somebody less than you so that they could do the work that you're not meant to do? In reality, you're paying that person a whole lot more because you're getting involved in it. Your time is valuable.
Kimberley Borgens:When you can let go of that control and dig into more, these are the results that I'm looking for. Can you create these results? How can you get them done? That's a whole lot better than these are the results I want, and I'm gonna hover over you just to make sure you do it right. That's not what we want.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay? I'm gonna help you stop micromanaging. And I know I'm gonna say this, and some of you might say, I don't micromanage, and I'm gonna challenge you to take a double look. Okay? You might be the kind of person that just is like, yeah.
Kimberley Borgens:You go ahead and do it, but then you're not improving either. Like, you're not checking to see how is this improving me moving forward in my business, me moving forward in my life. We have to manage, but we do not need to micromanage. So how can we stop micromanaging? Well, the first thing that I would say that we can do is set clear expectations.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. I've said this in many episodes of podcasts over many different conversations, many different, opportunities of learning is clear expectations are a huge key to success. I'm I'm telling you. But we have to start with those clear expectations. What is it what is it that we need from them?
Kimberley Borgens:People can't hit a target that they can't see. So you have to define what success looks like for any every project, and you have to do it very clearly. What are the deadlines? What are the outcomes that you're looking for? What are what pieces are the priorities?
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Give them the information that they need, and then get out of the way and let them do it. Let them also know that you are there if they need help or guidance through it, and don't try to, like, force your way of trying to figure it out. I'm open for questions. The second thing I would say is to use systems, not surveillances.
Kimberley Borgens:You know, create dashboards. Create a project board. There's a lot of project boards out there. There's Asana. I personally use Trello.
Kimberley Borgens:There's, ClickUp. There's, so many out there. You just find whichever one that you wanna use. And Basecamp, I know we use that one as well. But check the system, find out is the system working.
Kimberley Borgens:If there's a problem and something is not working with your staff, with your vendor, or, you know, with your clients, what you wanna do is check to see what is the system we have in place. Because most of the time, the system is the problem, not the person. The person is willing. They are able, but something isn't working right within the system. That's different than a person not being willing or that are they just don't have the skill set and they're not able.
Kimberley Borgens:Most of the time, it's because there's a flaw in the system somewhere. Something's just not working right. They didn't understand something about that system just right. So you wanna make sure to check the system with them. Tell me how did the you know, what's going on?
Kimberley Borgens:Oh, that's not working for you? Okay. Let's see what we can figure out. Where did you come up against this? And then manage them through that system.
Kimberley Borgens:And once you see if there's a problem with the system, you course correct that problem. It helps you to stop babysitting people. Like, I I had four kids. I was raising children. I babysat in my younger years.
Kimberley Borgens:I do not want to babysit adults. And if that's something that you wanna do, go start a day care. Okay? But that's not what it's for. I don't you don't wanna babysit people.
Kimberley Borgens:You what you wanna do is hire capable people to do the things that you need them to do in such a way that it relieves you of having all that time and energy and effort into every single project so that you can focus focus on most important things that you have to offer. The you can focus on the sales if necessary. You focus on the the products, the content that you're trying to get out there. You wanna focus on the things that are the most important for you. So use your systems, not surveillance.
Kimberley Borgens:That's my my step two here. The next thing, number three is trust, but verify. Okay? I always say inspect what you expect. Set milestones and set check ins, not necessarily daily checkups.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Now I I have, end of day report that my team emails out. Like, these are the things that I got done today. You know, here's what I'm looking for tomorrow. So if something happens, they get sick, you know, an accident, I know where they were, and I can have somebody else or myself step in and pick up from where they left off.
Kimberley Borgens:K? That's different than, hey. Where are you in this project? Give me all the details. Show me all everything that you've done.
Kimberley Borgens:Like, I just wanna know where I can get it if you don't show up tomorrow. That's because I trust that they're working on it. It's your job as the CEO to coach the process, not control every move. Did you get that? Coach the process, not control every move.
Kimberley Borgens:I think that's a key piece when we're working with people and trying hard not to micromanage people is there is a process. There will always be a process. Your job is to coach the process, not control the people. Alright. Number four is give feedback.
Kimberley Borgens:Not firestorms, not throwing a fit, not yelling, not being mad is give feedback. Use constructive feedback loops. Right? Short, specific, actionable things that they can do to course correct where they're going with whatever you're doing. Leadership isn't about catching mistakes.
Kimberley Borgens:I wanna make sure that you're clear on that. It's not about catching mistakes. It's about creating the learning moment so that that person look. I don't know about you. When I was a kid, when I made a mistake, I got beaten down.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay? That was just my household. I get it. That is not how I wanna work with my people. I do not wanna work my with my vendors that way.
Kimberley Borgens:I do not wanna work with my employees that way. And don't get me wrong. I get mad sometimes. And I'll say, you know what? I just need a few minutes, and I will go to my office, and I'm like, and then I take a deep breath.
Kimberley Borgens:Or I get an email from somebody, and I'm just wanna be so reactive because I'm human. Right? And I'm and I'm just like, okay. Hold on. How would the CEO respond to this?
Kimberley Borgens:Not how Kimberley will respond to it, but how would a CEO respond to this? Creating opportunities to understand from them and then create course corrections when needed. Like, somebody will send me something they totally mucked up. Right? And I'll say, help me understand how you came up with this solution, or help me understand how this happened with this.
Kimberley Borgens:Help and I truly want them to help me understand. Because if I can understand what it is that their mind was thinking, what their process they were working on, what the system they were using, then it allows me to go, where did we go wrong with that? What can we do to course correct that? What needs to be improved? How can I I, you know, course correct that with them?
Kimberley Borgens:So give feedback that is respectful. Give feedback that is asking questions, and give feedback that helps people to move forward. And then number five, I would say of, you know, how to stop micromanaging. Number five is focus on outcomes, not the activity. I'm gonna say a couple of things on this one is, first, don't measure productivity by busyness.
Kimberley Borgens:Measure productivity by results or by progress. Because look, I would much rather have a team that gets results, you know, working four hours a day than a team that's busy for ten. Right? I have somebody I I asked them, recently to do a little task. It's like five minutes a day for five days a week.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay? It adds about twenty five minutes of total time to, their job duties. OMG. They thought they acted as if I asked them to do an extra hour a day. Oh, I'm so busy all the time.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm like, great. Thank you for letting me know. What I'd like to know is can you keep a list of everything that you're doing every day? Because maybe I need to pull something else off of your list so that you can do this five minutes per day. Guess what?
Kimberley Borgens:They didn't wanna do that because they had way too much busyness in their in their job. Sometimes they would even ask, other department managers like, hey. Do you have something for me to do? Because I don't have anything to do today. What?
Kimberley Borgens:See, that's those are the clues of busyness, not productivity. And you wanna focus on the outcome, not necessarily the activity. I don't care if, she has time that she doesn't have anything to do. That's not my biggest importance. My bigger importance is is that when you're putting out the reports, are they accurate?
Kimberley Borgens:My biggest concern is when you're calling people, are you giving them clear directions? So if that's not the case, then that's where the course correction needs to come in. And then if there's way too much time, right, then you go, the other thing I had to do with with my team, and it's based on outcomes not activity, is, I have a few people that will go out and have smoke breaks. And they would take a break here and take a break there and take another break here and take another break there. But I actually said, hey.
Kimberley Borgens:This is the company policy. These are when your breaks are. Please refrain from going out and having smoke breaks. Whenever you feel like it, I need you to stick to this. Now that sounds a little harsh, but you see they were taking advantage.
Kimberley Borgens:And they were complaining about not having enough time to do their job when they were going outside a couple people at a time and having a powwow out there, and that wasn't what that time was for. I'll I give you breaks, and I'll be pretty flexible. Right? I give you your meal breaks. I require them.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm the one who's calling people out. Hey. Did you take your meal break yet? Get on it. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:I want them to take their breaks, but I don't want them to take advantage. There's a difference. But I you have to learn how to focus on the outcome. I don't care how many breaks they have. If all of their job duties are productive, they're accurate, they're paying attention to what else is needed, and they're offering help to other people.
Kimberley Borgens:If all of that is not happening, that's when I focus on the activities. So just keep that in mind. So what could be some of the best practices for managing other people? Well, I thought I'd share a few of these as well. One is empower ownership.
Kimberley Borgens:Let them take ownership of the project. That helps you from stop micromanaging. Let them plan the process. Right? It's so powerful when you let them take charge for a little bit, and you kinda sit back and watch.
Kimberley Borgens:Ask your team questions like, you know, what's your plan for this? I I was working with my HR manager, and and I said, hey. You know, this is what needs to be done. And and I'm like, can you take this on? And she said, sure.
Kimberley Borgens:She said, you know, what do you want me to do about this? I'm like, well, you look it over and then tell me what your plan is. Instead of me telling her what to do, what I really wanna do is see what she was capable of bringing to me. You know, think about for you, how can you see this working? Right?
Kimberley Borgens:That's another question I would ask him. Well, how do you see this working, you know, moving forward if they you know, if something comes up? Or what are your thoughts to solve this? What are your thoughts to solve this? And they go, can I think about it for a little bit?
Kimberley Borgens:Sure. When do you wanna let me know? I'll let them give me a timeline. Give me by the end of day. Okay.
Kimberley Borgens:Great. If it's urgent, I might say, can I give you till lunch? Right? But you really wanna let them take ownership of the project, of the plan, or the process because when they take ownership of it, then they dig into it. If I'm owning it and saying to them, like, hey.
Kimberley Borgens:Can you do this for me? No. That's not how I wanted you to do it, but I need you to do it this way. You see, there's a big difference. So ask them the questions.
Kimberley Borgens:You know, what are your plans for this, or how do you see this working out, or what are your thoughts to solve this? The next best practice would be set communication rhythms, like weekly check ins, end of day reports, not daily panic calls. I don't want to be picking up the phone and calling me. Did you have it done yet? Do you have it done yet?
Kimberley Borgens:Come on. Get that done. That's not how I want to be. Encourage proactive updates instead of reactive status reports. Be proactive about it.
Kimberley Borgens:You know, hey. Can you check-in with me at the end of the week with this? Let me know when it you know, how it's going. I can't tell you when I do this. I when I give projects to people and let them take ownership and I have them set the communication rhythm, 90% of the time, those things are done even before the expectation to begin with.
Kimberley Borgens:They give me plenty of time. You wanna create safe space for feedback. You giving them feedback, I talked about with micromanaging, but when you're looking for best practices, you wanna create a safe place for them to give you feedback. You know, I was talking to, my business partner, and I said, you know, x y z, this is what needs to happen. And the HR manager he went to the HR manager.
Kimberley Borgens:HR manager said, no. This is, you know, what the law says. And so he came back and said, I can't do that because that's the law. And I said, no. That's not the law.
Kimberley Borgens:This is what the law says. These are best practices for other companies, but that is not the law. So we got all three of us together, and I let her, you know, give us feedback. Tell us why she thought that was the law. I want people to not be afraid to tell me the truth.
Kimberley Borgens:When they're not afraid to tell me their truth, even if it's not accurate, I want them to be able to tell me their truth. But if I'm if people are afraid to tell me the truth, they'll never they'll never step up into that space that I need them to step into. They'll never it'll it'll never be the best for them for sure. But if I go, okay. Tell me why help me understand this.
Kimberley Borgens:So you said this is what the law says. Help me where did you see that? Great. Can you show me the law? And she doesn't.
Kimberley Borgens:And then she's like, oh. Because in her previous companies, those companies, it was the best practice versus what the law said. You know? And so sometimes it's just a matter of letting people give you feedback. Like, she we've asked our HR manager, like, give us feedback on this upcoming new law proposed or whatever, and she'll give us feedback.
Kimberley Borgens:And we'll go, okay. Great. Go for it. She's pled her case. She gave us feedback.
Kimberley Borgens:So if I create the safe space for them to give me feedback, it also creates a safe space for me to give them feedback. So it's a feedback is a two way street. Other best practices is know what your strengths are and know what their strengths are. You know, people get hired for a lot of reasons. I wanna hire people for their zone of genius, not just as extensions of my arms.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't wanna hire me. I wanna hire somebody who's different than me, somebody who can bring in extra things, somebody who can bring in who things that go, hey, Kimberley You know, I noticed you guys aren't doing this, but what do could we add this to our process here? I'm like, tell me about it. It's very rare that I will say, you know what?
Kimberley Borgens:Thanks for that information. You know, we're not gonna do that. Occasionally, we do. Occasionally, we do. I'm gonna say, It's not gonna work at this time.
Kimberley Borgens:Not because of the person what they were bringing to us didn't sound, smart or brilliant or anything like that, but maybe they've been with us for a year, and we did this ten years ago, and it's a complete failure. Okay? I mean, they just don't know, but sometimes people want more. And as a business owner, you have to decide what enough is and what more we can give. And so we have to know our strengths, but we also have to hire people who have different strengths than us so that we can let them shine where I'm not meant to shine.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't need to be the center of attention based on results because I hid out for many, many years in my business. I am not that center of attention gal. And so that's been a challenge for me in this podcast, and I'll be honest, is, you know, how do you get out there and, become a celebrity like in a podcast, in doing webinars, in, you know, branding, and all of the things that we have to do in social media and connection with people when that's not your thing that that's not your strength. I like to just sit back and do the job, not have to go out there and be seen in front of all the people. And so a lot of times, you know, I just hired people who could do all of that.
Kimberley Borgens:My business partner is great at all of that. K? He's my husband too, but still, he's great at all of that. I had to learn to be great at it. But I had to hire people who were teaching me because it was their genius, not mine.
Kimberley Borgens:So hire people, for for what's most important for them, and then build a culture of accountability. Look. I my clients, named me the queen of accountability twenty years ago because I held people accountable for what they say they wanted. My coaching style is full on accountability. What is it that you want?
Kimberley Borgens:How do you wanna get that done? Okay. Here's some guidance on getting that done. K. Let let we're gonna connect next week.
Kimberley Borgens:Let's see how far you've come. To me, accountability is not punishment. It's ownership. It's saying that together, we're going to succeed. Together, we can fix just about anything because you take responsibility for your part, and I walk alongside you to make sure that you don't fall.
Kimberley Borgens:So when you're micromanaging people, what you're doing is not allowing them the opportunity to take responsibility. And when they don't have responsibility, there's no accountability to go behind it. I want people to have accountability. That means I have to give them the responsibility, and I have to let go of managing or micromanaging people in such a way that they take ownership of it. I hope you really heard that from my heart.
Kimberley Borgens:I want people to win. I want people to be successful. If somebody works for me for six months and they leave, even if they didn't like working for me, they learned a few things along the way about themselves that they can take to another job, they can take home to working with their families, I know that we won as a company, that they won as an employee even if they weren't satisfied in the end Because they were willing because they were able to take account responsibility for something, they had accountability, and they could take that home to their family too. I think they got a little excited about that one. Alright.
Kimberley Borgens:How can you make a superhero shift? Look. Micromanagement is a mask for fear. Fear of something going wrong, something that, could make you look bad, feeling out of control. It's a fear of consequences maybe, that you didn't know about.
Kimberley Borgens:Leadership on the other hand is an act of trust. When you stop trying to control everything, you actually create space for excellence, for creativity, possibility of learning. Right? Imagine that. The possibility of learning from people that you hired.
Kimberley Borgens:A real superhero in heels woman doesn't just do it all. She builds a team that can do it with her. Right? A team that sees her vision and is willing to step in and say, hey. Here's how I can contribute.
Kimberley Borgens:I want women leaders that can say, here's how I can contribute. Look. I've had vendors that I hire to help me out, and they even call me out. I give them permission because I'm asking them to do something that isn't necessarily in alignment with my own vision sometimes. I might say, hey.
Kimberley Borgens:This is what I want, and they'll go, Kimberley that that's a little out of what you said your vision is. Can we pull you in a little bit? Right? Or are you sure that's what you wanna do? Or can I share an idea that I have on how to make that happen better?
Kimberley Borgens:When you hire vendors that are willing to say those things to you, be willing to listen. You hired them, and they have the experience and the skill to assist you, so let them. Don't try to micromanage them. And clients, clients don't need you to grab them by the hand and show them around like a five year old. What they need is for you to guide them with questions, with suggestions, with ideas, and then ask them how they want to proceed.
Kimberley Borgens:They have their own experiences to to create the results that they're looking for. They just need a guide. Be a guide. Don't be a boss. And trust me, I have my I get my bossy pants on every now and again.
Kimberley Borgens:But if you could walk away today with this episode, if there's anything that I would say take take away from this is really focus on if you're micromanaging people, what's the fear that you have that's holding you back from letting people do what they are a genius at versus you? Allow yourself to at least name what that fear is, and then catch yourself. Catch yourself stepping out of that fear and into confidence, into bravery. And if today's episode hits home for you, take one thing that you're still micromanaging and hand it off this week. Test your leadership muscle by letting go.
Kimberley Borgens:And if you love this conversation, share it with another powerhouse woman who's ready to rise into her leadership role. I'm Kimberley Borgens, and I'm just reminding you that power isn't control. Power is in confidence. So thank you for joining me today over here with in my podcast, superheroes and heels. And if you wanna join me and learn more about what I'm doing to support my clients, head over to Kimberleyborgens.com.
Kimberley Borgens:Join me for my free membership, the Hive Hangout. And until next time, keep bleeding fiercely. Keep those heels moving and grooving. Be blessed.
Outro:Thanks for tuning in to Superheroes in Heels with Kimberley Borgens. If you're walking away feeling a little braver, a little bolder, and a whole lot more powerful, mission accomplished. Be sure to subscribe to the show and leave a review. It helps us to reach more women who are ready to unleash their power and lead with confidence. And if you do leave a review, you might just hear your name in an upcoming episode.
Outro:If today's conversation lit a fire in you, share it with your network and join us inside the hive society at Kimberleyborgens.com, where powerful women gather to break barriers and rise together. Until next time, keep showing up, standing strong, and heels or not, keep embracing your inner superhero.