How I Gave Up Micromanaging and Became a Better Team Leader

It was not long after I had been hired into an executive-level role that I discovered that my boss wrote the book on micromanagement.

“Don’t talk to these people.”

“Don’t do it that way, do it this way.”

“Use your own judgment on how to address a problem staff member” followed by, “Why didn’t you formally reprimand him?”

“Don’t give me all the details of your daily tasks” followed by “Why didn’t you give me the details of your tasks?”

I loved the organization and my co-workers. But the constant second guessing and restrictions on who I could talk to, when and what to do, and repeated reversals on task management left me so miserable that I just wanted to quit.

The impact of micromanagers on the morale of the people that work for them and for the organization as a whole can be horrific. There are many articles on why micromanagers do what they do. Motivations include insecurity, need to project power and authority, need to be in control of everything, anxiety, and fear. Trust in both directions is eroded and a toxic work culture is born. And of course, almost all micromanagers deny that they micromanage.

Steve Jobs famously said,

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

As a team leader, I have always seen my role as getting the best talent, get them the resources they need and remove obstacles, have their back, and let them shine.

Yet looking back to when I first became a direct line manager, I now recognize that there was a time when my own insecurity and need for control blinded me to the consequences of my actions. It is very humbling to learn that you are not always the best version of yourself you imagine. Recognizing my past failure enabled me to learn and grow into a better leader.

Here’s what happened. I had a group of talented, knowledgeable, and hardworking direct reports. For the most part, they worked independently and managed many complex projects, and we had a good working relationship.

The relationship self-destructed when I decided that I wanted more of a personal imprint on two projects that one of my reports would otherwise have taken the lead on. One was a high visibility capital project, the other a report to the board that needed an overhaul to increase transparency and be more informative. I had very clear (in my mind) objectives for how I wanted each to look, and while I still needed them to execute the tasks, I wanted to design each to the minute details. When they made suggestions, I often rejected them, even if I was the only one who cared. And the more I insisted on wanting to do things my way, the worse things got.

I rationalized that they had full autonomy on all other projects, and I only wanted to control these two. But they were extremely resentful that I was controlling small details of what they believed were properly their work product, and ultimately complained to my boss about my micromanaging.

At the time, It was easy to be defensive and say that my subordinate’s inflexibility and inability to allow me to direct just those two projects was the problem. But the reality is that I did not need to direct the minutia of these projects. I could have laid out objectives and expectations and let them do the work.

One of the reasons that micromanagers do what they do is that they were successful in performing various tasks, and that is how they advanced. Now, in their new role, their job is different: they have to manage other people who perform the tasks that they used to perform. As a team leader, the role is to get the best performance from others, not prove one’s own worth by doing the task oneself.

Being micromanaged is horrible. Being the micromanager is not much better. The conflicts over these projects took a toll on me in terms of stress and the fact that the projects suffered. In the end it is destructive of relationships that can be difficult to repair. I was fortunate in being able to change things around through coaching and turn my experience into a lesson for better team leadership.

Today, when I lead a team, I largely focus on the larger, strategic picture. I spend less time on details and more time on establishing the standards and objectives of what I want the project to achieve.

Many organizations lose talented people when managers lose focus and micromanage their reports. Like me, most people who micromanage do not realize what they are doing. When managers find themselves in power conflicts with their reports, they should consider whether they are falling into the micromanaging trap. It is hard to change direction, but executive coaching and 360 assessments are tools that can help identify the points of conflict and help managers pivot into more productive supervision. Managing a team is not about authority and control. It is about trusting in your people, and they in turn will trust in you. When there is trust all around, people are happy and inspired to perform well, and others will take notice of your leadership.

Illustration credits: Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash