5 Signs You Are Micromanaging and Don’t Even Know It

It is one of the first rules of business leadership: Don’t micromanage your people. Micromanagement is the leadership style of excessively supervising your employees and refusing to allow them even a shred of autonomy in how they perform their jobs. Other than perhaps the perpetrator’s inflated sense of importance, there are literally no positive and sustainable long-term outcomes to micromanagement. Employees who are constantly micromanaged are less productive, more stressed, and less empowered to innovate and thrive. It’s an extraordinarily negative leadership style with lasting effects, but most micromanagers likely don’t even recognize that they are guilty of the behavior.

But make no mistake, the team knows.

Signs You Are Micromanaging (Your Team’s Perspective)

Micromanagers are usually relatively easy to identify in a business leadership or management setting. Even though they might have the best of intentions, micromanagers reveal themselves with common negative actions and behaviors that are readily apparent to their teams.

Micromanagers often show themselves by:

• Constantly monitoring their teams.
• Continually demanding check-ins.
• Excessively requesting progress reports.
• Incessantly hovering and critiquing.
• Lacking collaborative and listening skills.

It is important to note that the demands of a leadership or management position might require some of these behaviors some of the time, however this conduct is more of a default setting for chronic micromanagers. Their motivation-killing actions just don’t stop.

Not surprisingly, micromanagers have a lot of excuses for managing their teams the way they do.

How Micromanagers Rationalize Their Behavior

Self-reflection is challenging, particularly for micromanagers. Rather than recognizing the negative impact of their actions, micromanagers tend to see their leadership style as a necessary approach to keeping business objectives on track and their people in line. This failure to recognize their heavy-handed approach to leadership makes it very challenging for micromanagers to address and remediate the issue.

Instead of troublesome, micromanagers see themselves as being:

• Highly detail oriented and able to spot errors.
• More caring and committed to results than their employees.
• Hands-on and readily available to problem solve on the spot.
• The gatekeeper who ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
• More insightful than others on processes, procedures and objectives.

And maybe they are even partially right on some of those assumptions, but it still doesn’t excuse the stifling behavior of being overly involved and denying employees personal agency.

Why Micromanaging Is a Big Problem

Micromanaging is an exceptionally corrosive behavior that negatively impacts just about every aspect of an organization. When employees feel disempowered, constantly monitored, and routinely second-guessed, they are more likely to be dissatisfied with their job, less likely (ironically) to perform at a high level, and far more apt to quit. Employee churn is often a huge telltale of micromanagement, and the higher the level of the employee, the more likely they will be intolerant of being micromanaged.

Micromanagement also traps you, as a business leader. Rather than being afforded the time and opportunity to work strategically on the business, micromanagers are perpetually chained to monitoring the day-to-day tasks of their employees. When every detail of the business or compliancy involves you, there is simply no time left over for higher level thinking like strategic planning and innovation.

In short, micromanagement is a losing game for you, your team, and your entire organization.

Overcoming the Urge to Micromanage

Changing micromanaging behaviors is tough. It first takes recognition of the issue, then a purposeful follow through on the solution. It is important to understand that an easing of the reins doesn’t mean you are lowering your standards, but rather increasing your trust in your employees to meet organizational expectations.

At first, the transition from micromanagement to empowerment will almost surely feel uncomfortable and a big leap of faith for those willing to evolve. But it is a massive step forward in the success and sustainability of your business. Start small and reframe your role from a monitor who constantly controls your employees’ work to a mentor who teaches your team how to recognize and resolve issues themselves.

Start by taking a step back. Select a team lead who can become the go-to person to resolve departmental issues. Use them as your touchstone. Outline long-term expectations, requirements, and goals. Provide opportunities for check-ins but let the team leader own the process. During these one-on-ones, try to refrain from instructing and dictating (because that is just micromanagement in sheep’s clothing). Instead, discuss performance strategies and team goals.

Delegate, delegate, delegate. Most micromanagers lack strong delegation skills. By handing off tasks to others, your team increases its autonomy to perform at a high level without your constant monitoring. When you hand off an accountability to a member of the team, try to refrain from dictating the only correct way to achieve the outcome. Instead, discuss and collaborate with the individual on how they intend to meet these new expectations.

Don’t just decide to fix it yourself. This is a tough one. Many micromanagers shackle themselves by believing it is easier and more time-efficient to jump in to fix an issue themselves than it is to teach others to resolve it. And they may be right in the short term, but the long game is much better served by teaching your team how to resolve concerns on their own.

Embrace your role as a developer. Rather than being a constant monitor or controller, focus your attention on developing your people. The rewards of this transition are plentiful. You will no longer be a hen-pecker or a finger-pointer, but rather you transform into a coach, a strategist, and an employee motivator. As a business leader, your true power is in developing the people around you.

Understand it won’t happen overnight. Like so many behaviors, micromanagement is a big challenge to overcome, but it is well worth the effort. It takes a lot of self-awareness, a good dose of humility, and an unwavering commitment to becoming a better business leader. And that all takes time. So give yourself some grace and pat yourself on the back for wanting be a better business leader.

Remember, leadership isn’t about constantly monitoring everyone’s activities; it’s about empowering your team to perform with confidence.