While few people actually intend to become micromanagers, there are several reasons why so many leaders slip into this behavior. Although unintentional, this dynamic can have detrimental effects on the team's ability to develop important managerial skills. In addition, leaders who focus too heavily on the tactics and granular details of their team’s work often overlook core aspects of their own leadership responsibilities.
Here are five micromanagement dynamics to watch out for and some strategies to effectively support your team.
There’s a tendency for leaders to focus their time on aspects of their job that are most familiar to them or the things for which they were previously recognized as top performers. For example, a CRO who was previously a successful VP of Marketing might over-index on top-of-funnel activity while failing to spend sufficient energy on pipeline development and customer experience. While this CRO may feel like their marketing expertise is adding value to their team, it’s likely that they’re becoming overly prescriptive with this part of the business, while neglecting key aspects of sales and customer success.
New managers sometimes find themselves gravitating towards the kind of task-driven, hands-on work they were recognized for when they were individual contributors. However, I’ve seen the same thing happen with experienced managers who spend time down in the weeds to accomplish some tangible deliverables and feel like they’ve scored a win. If you find yourself down at the tactical level, it’s important to reflect on why.
Effective leaders focus their energy with intentionality. Be sure that you’re leveraging your time in a way that benefits the company and your team, and embrace the work that pulls you out of your comfort zone.
Taking a servant leadership approach often means putting your team’s needs before your own. When your team struggles or falls behind, the instinct is to “scrub-in” and help. This can be particularly disruptive, though, if not done carefully.
It’s important to keep in mind how your involvement might be perceived by your employees. Your team could see this as a signal that they're doing something wrong, that you’re dissatisfied with their work, or that you lack confidence in their ability to complete the task. This can be demoralizing—especially for new team leaders—and is a reason why employees refuse help from their manager (even if it has the potential to have a positive impact).
Ambitious, up-and-coming leaders are likely to want to avoid having to be “saved” by their manager if an initiative they're leading is off track. Although we know that asking for help is not a sign of weakness or failure (just the opposite), it’s a leadership skill that needs to be carefully cultivated.
A recent Harvard Business Review article emphasized the importance of managers setting the context for how they will support their team members in these situations. This includes an approach focused on listening and understanding the team’s challenges, being a thought-partner in the problem-solving process, and showing a willingness to clear obstacles (large or small).
Giving employees the room to struggle and fail is one of the most difficult things for a manager. I like to use an analogy about letting employees skin their knees, but not letting them knock out their front teeth. Skinned knees sting... but they heal... and they teach us important lessons.
Wanting to protect your employees from harm or failure—although well-intentioned—often comes across as being directive. This stifles creativity and robs them of the opportunity to build problem-solving skills, erodes their confidence, and eliminates important learning opportunities.
Giving your team members enough autonomy to skin their knees is important. But you also need to stay close enough to help prevent them from knocking out their front teeth. If you spot an impending disaster—likely to cause material damage to the company or to individuals—you need to intervene. Psychological safety comes from employees knowing they can fail but that you won’t let them fall into significant danger.
Bear in mind that your willingness to let your employees and team leaders skin their knees sometimes results in you needing to help them pick up the pieces and do some damage control. However, avoiding one of the most common triggers for micromanaging will build your team's confidence and help them learn from their experiences.
When your team is overwhelmed with too much work and too little time and resources, your first instinct might be to jump in and help them with the mountain of work ahead of them. However, you first need to determine whether the work in front of them should be completed at all.
As a leader, one of your most important responsibilities is to keep your strategic priorities on track. That means you must constantly be bringing clarity to the mission-critical work vs. the operational work or non-strategic work. If your team is struggling with bandwidth or deadlines, you can help pave a path to success by shifting resources away from lower priority initiatives, pushing back deadlines, or adjusting scope.
This may require you to help your team to manage-across and manage-up in terms of setting expectations for the impact of these changes. However, keeping your team focused on the high priority work can help reduce some of the noise and the overload they may be feeling. Before you scrub-in and help execute the work, start by reducing or shifting the amount of work in front of them.
Leaders can fall into a pattern of micromanaging because they want to “stay close to the business.” Those who draw energy from interpersonal relationships typically want to avoid becoming disconnected from the people and the teams doing the work. Others worry that they won’t be “in the know” regarding many facets of the team’s work unless they are immersed in the tactics and details.
How you stay knowledgeable about your team’s work—while finding the right level of detail—is a leadership skill that will evolve throughout your career. Harvard Business Review author Ron Ashkenas states that “with every promotion, managers need to learn a little more about how to lead using an ‘instrument panel’ instead of direct observation.”
Establishing systems to track strategic initiatives, outcomes, obstacles, and actions is critically important. I like to use a strategic scorecard to track these elements, with a simple green/yellow/red system to indicate progress and drive conversations about wins and roadblocks. As a leader, it's unrealistic to carry in your brain all of the granular data about all of your team’s projects. Having the right “instrument panel” allows you to have mastery of the essential details and also give your team the space to lead.
I’m a big believer in hiring bright people and getting the heck out of their way. While every emerging leader needs some sort of guidance and oversight, it’s important to make sure that your involvement supports their leadership, rather than undermine it. Equally important, if you find yourself immersed in tactics or granular details of your team's initiatives, you’re likely failing to lean into your own leadership responsibilities—which entails focusing your energy on strategic clarity and driving the company forward. Finding the right balance isn’t easy, but achieving an effective management dynamic will foster a highly engaged, highly empowered, and highly effective team.