<strong>Scenario:</strong><em> "Hey, we gotta ask how Sally's doing every hour of every single day. The best manager check up on their workers, constantly. Yay!"</em> Sure, checking up on workers might seem beneficial -- but doing too much of it, and you'll drain their productivity like a mofo. <span class="highlight">Most "check-ups" <a href="http://www.trizle.com/why-monitoring-your-workers-sucks/">add no value to the employee's work, and instead end up hindering their performance</a>.</span> According to recent <a rel="nofollow" href="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6143663.html">research</a> on such interruptions: <blockquote><span class="highlight">U.S. office workers get interrupted on the job as often as <strong>11 times an hour</strong>, <strong>costing as much as $588 billion to U.S. business</strong> each year.</span></blockquote> <h2>"But what if my workers need me every second of every day of every freakin' year?!"</h2> Two things could happen: <ol> <li><h3>You haven't tried "letting go."</h3> People -- that is, good people -- want <a href="http://www.trizle.com/why-your-employees-have-better-ideas/">independence to discover the best route to a destination</a> you/your-company/your-client has set. When you dictate that route, you trash their creativity -- and in turn: <a href="http://www.trizle.com/how-to-destroy-your-superstars/">drain their productivity</a>.</li> <li> <h3>You hired the wrong person.</h3> If the person needs constant hand-holding, you probably need somebody else. A person that needs babysitting will drain your time, resources, and hurt company-wide results.</li> </ol> So when you're trying to improve the kick-booty rate of your company, use the following template to get your badass started: <h2>"I will let go."</h2><br /> 2006-12-15T20:44:57-08:00 false 429 should-you-check-up-on-your-people 0 2009-11-03T18:00:52-08:00