How to Manage Self Monitoring Employees

Employees who develop self-monitoring skills tend to be more productive, make better decisions and communicate effectively with co-workers and supervisors, according to My Management Guide, a resource for project management best practices. Self-monitoring or self-management is a tool incorporated by employees looking for career advancement and should be encouraged. While you want to support the efforts of employees who successfully monitor their own progress, you also must develop techniques to manage them without discouraging their initiative.


Ask, rather than tell employees to perform certain tasks or participate in various projects. You must be confident in your ability to persuade through gentle suggestions and queries if you want to support your self-managing employees. James Heskett, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School writes in the Harvard newsletter, Working Knowledge, that a self-monitoring environment is not conducive for managers with a need to control and command their subordinates.


Share information and provide learning opportunities for self-managing staff members. Engage them in thought-provoking conversations. Self-monitoring workers usually are open to new ideas and new ways of doing things, especially if the new concepts will help them be more efficient in their jobs.


Discuss the inner workings of the company and speak openly with employees, providing them with as much information about the business as you can. Employees have access to a significant amount of information, and when they see that company insider information is available to them they are more likely to respond by sharing their own innovative ideas and feel more empowered as an integral part of your operations.


Provide feedback instead of making demands. Act as a coach instead of as a boss functioning in a disciplinary manner. Work with employees to solve problems and define their needs. Support self-monitoring employees by providing them with the tools they need to perform an outstanding job – and they’ll do just that.