Chances are you’ve worked for a micromanager during the course of your career. I know I have. In fact, I’ve known plenty of micromanagers over the years. And, almost universally, I’ve found that they are very resistant to admitting their micromanagement. Suggest that they’re micromanaging and you’ll probably hear comments like: “I’m just staying informed,” or “I need to ensure quality,” or “That’s how I manage performance.”
That’s not what they’re doing, though. What they’re actually doing is hovering, controlling, and systematically eroding team confidence. The result: lost engagement, poor productivity, and high turnover.
While you might hate to admit, you might be a micromanager.
What Micromanaging Really Means
According to Merriam-Webster, micromanaging means “to manage especially with excessive control or attention to small matters that is not wanted or causes problems.”
That definition captures the essence perfectly. Micromanaging is unwanted control that creates problems, not solutions.
How It Shows Up in the Workplace
There are a variety of ways that micromanaging shows up in work settings. Managers who experience this behavior have a hard time letting go of control so they fail to delegate to their team members. Even when they do delegate, they insist on staying “in the loop”—demanding to be cc’d or bcc’d on every email, checking in incessantly, second-guessing, issuing orders. They insist on accompanying staff members to meetings, wasting not only their team members’ time, but their own as well.
Managers that exhibit these behaviors harbor the belief that they’re the only one who can do the job right. It’s generally a sign of a lack of confidence in their own abilities and a fear of letting go and losing control or a sense of purpose.
The High Costs of Micromanaging
Micromanaging comes with a high cost. It leads to frustration, erodes engagement, and results in inefficiencies that drain productivity, create bottlenecks, and damage morale.
The impact on your team is devastating. When talented people feel that they can’t be trusted to do their jobs, they stop trying to excel. Worse, they begin looking for opportunities elsewhere where their talent will be recognized and they’ll be allowed to thrive.
A Real-World Example
I once coached a director who had a boss who insisted he wanted him to grow. He gave him challenging assignments. But then, he hovered over his every move and found fault with basically everything he did, issuing edicts about how to do the job “the right way.”
Fortunately, I was also coaching the CEO at the time, which gave me visibility into both perspectives. Here’s what I found was going on.
The CEO had formerly been in the director position and had excelled at it. He knew the job inside out and felt capable and confident performing its functions. His new position was far less comfortable and far more demanding. It moved him outside of his comfort zone and represented the potential for personal failure, something he rarely experienced.
That’s a pattern that is far too common, especially when leaders are promoted into higher-level roles. There can be a strong temptation to cling to the tasks that were comfortable and that held little chance of failure.
Ultimately, though, every success is built on both achievements and lessons learned. The path forward is never a straight line; it’s a journey that includes setbacks and, yes, failures.
Breaking Out of the Pattern: The Path Forward
In this case, moving forward required the CEO to focus on delegating the “what” without dictating the “how.” He needed to recognize that controlling the process was creating frustration, inefficiency, and disengagement in his director.
He was ultimately able to acknowledge that staying focused on operational tasks kept him in his comfort zone but prevented him from embracing the visionary thinking his new position demanded.
The director also benefited from some self-reflection. He realized that he needed to earn the CEO’s trust while establishing appropriate boundaries.
The result: an important breakthrough where the CEO and his director were able to establish agreed-upon standards, define clear milestones, and commit to a realistic schedule of check-ins and updates.
The Self-Assessment You Need to Do
Are you a micromanager? It can be hard to spot these behaviors in ourselves even though we often readily see them in others.
Honest reflection is a must. Think about your interactions with your team members. Do you:
- Scrutinize everything your team produces?
- Insist on attending every meeting?
- Demand to be cc’d or bcc’d on every email?
- Require your approval for every step of a project?
If any of these behaviors sound familiar, it’s time to make some changes.
Solutions That Work
Moving beyond micromanagement requires intention. Like any behavior change, it requires acknowledging that a problem exists and committing to doing something about it.
Start by intentionally focusing on what needs to be done, not how it should be done. Focus on desired outcomes rather than dictating the process for achieving those outcomes. Keep in mind that great leaders don’t just get things done—they help others grow. When you shift from controlling the work to empowering your team, everyone wins.
Tags: Employee Engagement, Leadership, leadership development, management, micromanaging, team development, workplace culture
