I recently wrote an article summarizing the research showing how micromanagement is ineffective and the damaging effects, and better approaches. Read that post here.
Today we will discuss why people micromanage and what you can do if you work for a micromanager.
A friend of mine, let’s call him Clint (fictitious name), recently told me a story about a micromanaging boss he had.
The relationship with his boss (Jack) started out well enough, his new leader seemed energetic, engaging, and consistently upbeat.
But as time went on, his frustrations grew.
He couldn’t put his finger on it at first, but began to recognize some frustrating patterns.
He would leave his bosses office with clear tasks, but only a few hours later he would get an email “checking in on the status” of the project they had just talked about. He was confused because there was nothing to report on the project yet, it was way too soon to check in.
Early the next morning, he got a friendly call, “Hey Clint, just curious how that new project is going.” Again, hardly any time had elapsed since getting the assignment just the day before.
Clint, nervous that he wasn’t working fast enough, quickly started in on the project, and was eager to report back the following week during their regularly scheduled one-to-one meeting. But when he arrived, he discovered that his boss had actually started the project in a different direction, and Clint felt that he had just wasted his time trying for the past week to make measurable progress.
“I know how busy you are, I just wanted to help out,” Jack chirped cheerfully.
Later that week, Clint submitted a draft memo to Jack based on Jack’s instruction, “Send me a draft so I can take a look before your message goes out.” But the copy he submitted was about 80% revised into Jacks words. Clint had to revise the memo three times before it was approved, and was almost totally written by Jack in the end.
Clint wanted to be useful, wanted to demonstrate his value, wanted to take things off his bosses plate, but no matter what he did, it didn’t seem to make much difference.
Jack continued to delegate tasks and then take them back if they weren’t done immediately; they would agree on a project deadline, but then Jack would check in repeatedly and sometimes daily; Jack would encourage autonomy in Clint but then revise his work constantly until none of Clint’s original efforts were included; and he would ask Clint to run even small decisions by him “to keep him posted.” Sometimes, Clint would make a decision and Jack would undermine his leadership by stepping in and changing the decision.
Jack seemed to send a constant message, “I want you to take full ownership of this issue….just run everything by me first.” Clint felt trapped, suffocated.
Strangely, Clint was a competent worker who had rapidly promoted, a strong leader, and highly reliable—he wasn’t being micromanaged due to incompetence and Jack rarely gave any feedback to Clint about things he wanted him to change—which only made the situation more frustrating for Clint.
Clint quit that job in less than a year. It was amicable, and he left on a good note, but he knew he couldn’t work under these conditions any longer.
If you have ever seen the Lego Movie when Lord Business (played by Will Farrell) yells “bring in the micromanager!” followed by snake-like lego machines that spray super glue on unsuspecting characters with ominous music, the harsh reality of working for a micromanager doesn’t feel much different.
Why people micromanage
There are many different versions of micromanagement, but they tend to have some origins and behaviors in common. For instance, Jack was interesting because he wasn’t unpleasant. He was upbeat, friendly, and not even critical of Clint’s work. But his inner state of tension and undercurrent of impatience and need for control still drove people away.
Let’s explore the primary reasons people often unconsciously resort to micromanaging leadership styles
- Fear of losing control: Many micromanagers worry that if they don’t oversee every decision, outcomes will go “off track,” reflecting anxiety about losing influence or authority.
- Insecurity: Managers who doubt their leadership abilities or worry about being judged may prefer to stay deeply involved in every detail.
- Perfectionism: Some leaders equate their way of doing work with what is correct, which makes it hard for them to delegate or tolerate alternate approaches.
- Pressure from higher ups and performance anxiety: Some micromanagers may be facing intense pressure from above and may control small details to ensure they avoid blame, or impress their superiors.
- Lack of trust: The leader may value individualism and have difficulty trusting others.
- Concern about team member competence: This can be real or unfounded. Often micromanaging strategies are the only way people know how to manage an employees performance when they are concerned about it. Sometimes these issues can be managed with clear expectations or accountability, better communication and coaching, or employee training programs.
- They haven’t been exposed to better leadership examples. It is important to keep in mind that if you are being micromanaged, it’s often unintentional and the micromanager may not even be aware they are doing it. Or, they may not have been exposed to other more effective models of leadership.
However, as you can see from the above list, many of these behaviors may begin in childhood with deep roots in the psyche, and are not readily amenable to change.
They are often anxiety reduction techniques related to view of self.
For that reason, it’s critical that your response to micromanagement be realistic, and primarily focus on how you manage yourself in response to their style.
What you can do
Here are a few things that will help if you are being micromanaged:
- Make sure you are competent and reliable at your job first. Nothing will fire up a micromanager’s difficulty with trust like unreliability or incompetence. You must make sure you are holding yourself to a high standard in that your work is not sloppy or late. Also, if you work super hard and conduct yourself honorably, you wont feel any guilt or regret if you leave, having done everything within your power, you can hold your head high.
- Spend time up front clarifying deliverables and desired outcomes. Take the extra time needed to seek clarity from your boss by asking questions. Often they may not even know what they want, so getting agreement up front can be extremely helpful to ensure both parties know what is expected and wanted and by when.
- Schedule project updates to pre-empt their constant checking. If your boss tends to check in too frequently, ask how often they want updates then put those meetings on your calendars labeled project update.
- Explain your reasoning. Sometimes micromanagers don’t trust because they cant read your mind and don’t understand how you arrived at your conclusions. You can say “here is what I am thinking” and ask for their feedback.
- Give them options and control. Since they may want control, try giving them some up front by offering options and input, “I propose we do this, but I also considered this, let me know if you prefer either option or have a different idea.”
- Don’t try to change them. Ultimately, micromanagers may be dealing with anxiety management strategies that originated in childhood and may have been part of their way of doing things for the better part of a century. For that reason, its far better to focus on how you can see their good qualities and adjust to their style by focusing on your own behaviors. If they sense you are trying to change them or think their style is “bad or wrong,” both of you will quickly become frustrated.
- Quit if you need to. If you try for months to adjust to their style and you are still too frustrated at work, you may need to change jobs. Some situations are so toxic that you need to recognize it isn’t healthy and take charge of your life by moving on. Ask yourself, how much longer could I do this before I just couldn’t stand it anymore? How is this job affecting my mental and physical health or home life?
Have a great weekend!
Parker
Resources
- The Anxious Micromanager: Harvard Business Review October 2023
