Why Micromanagement is Bad for Business

Micromanagement has had a bad name for a long time, yet many managers still feel compelled to micromanage every last detail, despite the negative effects this management style has on team morale, retention, and performance.

What is Micromanagement?

A micromanager feels the need to oversee and interfere with every detail of their team’s work, either because they fear failure or cannot let go of control, or because they don’t trust their team to do the job as well as they can. At best, micromanaging stems from the manager’s insecurity; at worst, it reveals an arrogant belief in their own superiority.

A micromanager uses control as their only way of managing, rather than leading through collaboration, trust, and engagement. They often operate with the mentality that "it’s my way or no way."

Common Signs of Micromanagement

• Resisting delegating, particularly with important projects.
• Ignoring the team’s skills and opinions, even when they outshine the manager’s abilities.
• Intervening at every step and jumping in on tasks without consulting those already working on them.
• Requesting constant, often irrelevant, reports that slow down progress.
• Inserting themselves into every success and claiming glory for others' work.
• Being quick to assign blame when things go wrong.
• Focusing on small details rather than the bigger picture.
• Reluctance to give autonomy or praise, as it detracts from their own feeling of success.
• Issuing ultimatums to control the team.

What Drives Micromanagement?

Insecurity, lack of experience, arrogance, perfectionism, and ego often drive micromanagers. New managers, in particular, may micromanage because they feel responsible for everything that happens and fear mistakes will reflect poorly on them. This is especially common if they’ve had little management training or learned bad habits from past micromanagers.

Some managers ease off the micromanagement once they become more comfortable in their role, but others cling to it because they don't know any other way. Some truly believe they are the only person keeping the team afloat, and that their way is the only way. In their view, the team is simply there to do the grunt work, but they still want to retain control and take the glory.

Why Micromanaging is Bad for Business

Employees who are micromanaged get frustrated with their lack of autonomy. Over time, they reduce their efforts and often start looking for jobs where their skills and ideas are valued. High turnover and lower-than-expected performance are classic signs of micromanagement.

Micromanagers send a clear message: they don't trust their team to do the job without them. This lack of trust is toxic for good teamwork.

Micromanagement Weakens Teams

Micromanagement breeds weak teams. While micromanagers may enjoy feeling indispensable and delivering good results, what happens when they go on holiday, fall ill, or are transferred? Allowing micromanagement to persist means the team never becomes truly competent at their jobs.

Poor Team Bonding

A micromanaged team will often develop a "them and us" mentality towards the boss. However, team bonding does not occur in a positive, productive way. High turnover in micromanaged teams means employees invest less in bonding with each other, as it’s emotionally draining when people leave.

Ongoing Training Issues

With high turnover comes a never-ending cycle of training new employees. Often, less effort is made with new hires, and they quickly become disillusioned by the negative atmosphere.

Burnout for the Micromanager

Micromanagers often burn out themselves. Constantly overseeing every little detail and being involved in the workload of every team member is exhausting. Eventually, they too will leave, overwhelmed by the pressure.

The Destruction of Morale and Performance

Micromanagement starts by destroying morale. Soon after, it undermines performance. If left unchecked, it can destroy the team, and ultimately, the organisation.

Do you recognise any of these behaviours in your organisation? Or perhaps even in yourself? Often, micromanagers simply haven’t been taught a more productive way. It's essential for managers to learn the skills of good leadership so they can let go of control and lead motivated, engaged, and highly productive teams.

Many thanks,

Alex & The Excel Team

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