Micro-Managing: 10 Traits of Terrible Leadership
Does your team feel empowered—or micromanaged? In this episode we unpack the toxic habit of micromanaging and how it undermines trust, stifles innovation, and limits team performance. You’ll reflect on how your actions might unintentionally send the wrong message and learn the hard truth about the damage control creates. If you’re ready to stop holding your team back and start leading them to success, this episode is for you.
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Today, we’re diving into a habit that crushes morale, smothers creativity, and drives good people out the door: micro-managing.
Before we continue, micro-management is a dirty word in leadership and yet the reality is it often comes from wanting to ensure things are done perfectly or by those who feel deep responsibility to ensure the outcomes are excellent.
Let me tell you a story. I spent some time with a team and the leader some time ago. The team were feeling incredibly disengaged. And there were rumblings within the team that close to 50% were close to resigning. Staggering numbers. Naturally the key leader knew he had to do something about it. I was asked to come and sort it out, and this is what I found. The team in question were responsible for setting up events and every time they did their leader would come through and adjust everything they had done, so that it was perfect. He thought he was doing a good thing. Unfortunately his team felt devalued and micro-managed.
This leader was a great guy, and he meant well. But his actions communicated, “I don’t trust you to get it right.”
Now, I know very few leaders who think that micro-managing is good. But, you may not be aware of your tendencies towards this. So, I encourage you to spend some time with your staff asking some well thought through questions.
Do I empower you?
Do you feel like you make decisions without coming to me for approval?
Do you feel frustrated by the way I work with you on projects?
And now, here’s the tricky part. Don’t just listen to their words. Listen to what their body language says. If they respond in ways which show honesty, great! However, if their words are saying one thing and their actions are, shifting in their seats, eyes darting, or avoiding yours as they answer, if they start fiddling, this is when you as a leader need to spend some time seriously contemplating how you lead your team.
Micro-managing is not an ‘on or off’ proposition. And I dare to say that all of us as leaders are likely to have some tendencies that err into micro-management. The better you can understand these tendencies, the more you can deal with them, the better you can empower your team increasing productivity.
And if you find yourself thinking that your tendencies are a little more than you can work on by yourself, find a good coach who can help you in delegation and empowerment.