How to Stop Micromanaging in the Workplace

What does micromanagement mean?

A micromanager is a manager who excessively supervises and closely monitors their employees. Micromanagers attempt to influence and control all processes instead of trusting employees to complete their duties independently.

Instead of focusing on big-picture goals, micromanagers are overly invested in the details of each project. They may demand frequent reports and exert influence at every step, often as a way to control employees.

To better understand the definition of a micromanager, it can be useful to examine the opposite of micromanaging tendencies. In a healthy work environment, employees feel that managers trust them to do their jobs effectively. Team members enjoy a sense of autonomy that can boost morale and encourage innovation. In these situations, managers assign tasks and deadlines and then step back, empowering employees to use their skills and talents to complete projects.

How micromanaging affects employees

Micromanagers may feel as if they’re improving the quality of work and overall productivity. However, while employees might increase their output in the beginning, they may lose motivation over time due to their managers’ lack of trust and confidence.

This management style can also damage an employee’s productivity and mental health. People who have a strong respect for authority may start to internalize their manager’s distrust or feel frustrated when their manager fails to appreciate their expertise and ideas. At that point, they’re likely to experience apathy and a lack of motivation.

Benefits of eliminating micromanagement at work

Micromanagement can make employees feel a loss of autonomy in the workplace. When you take steps to create more freedom and less oversight, everyone wins. Learning how to stop micromanaging has numerous benefits, such as:

Increased retention: Everyone wants to feel appreciated. Treating employees well and hearing their opinions can help them feel more valued in the workplace. When employees feel respect for their managers, they’re more likely to be loyal to your company.
Improved morale and culture: Employees with a sense of control tend to feel better about the work they do. This positive energy can spread among all employees and create a positive atmosphere within your business.
Higher productivity: When managers don’t require constant progress reports, employees have the time to be more productive. This also frees managers’ time to focus on overarching goals and team development.
Increased innovation: Employees who are not micromanaged usually have more creative freedom. They can take calculated risks that could lead to greater innovation. This can help improve your business’s internal processes and develop new solutions for your customers.

How to identify micromanagement

Micromanagement isn’t always easy to identify. Managers need to stay in touch with team members about the work they’re doing.

Some employees require more hands-on support from supervisors to perform their job well. Successful managers know how to balance oversight with the appropriate amount of employee autonomy.

The following tips can help you spot examples of micromanagement in the workplace:

1. Send out an anonymous employee survey

An anonymous employee survey gives your team the chance to express honest, unfiltered opinions of their managers. This method can help you spot micromanagement and other potentially negative management techniques that hurt morale. Include questions that could reveal micromanagement, such as:

Do you feel that your manager is open to your team’s ideas and insights?
Does your manager provide feedback that you find helpful?
Is your manager using their authority appropriately?
Do you feel comfortable sharing your opinions with your manager?
Does your manager explain their decision-making process?
Does your manager clearly define the company’s goals?
Is your manager’s communication style effective?

2. Observe your managers and employees

Pay attention to the way your managers treat their team members. If you notice that they encourage open communication and group brainstorming, you likely have a manager who demonstrates effective leadership skills. If they prevent the free flow of ideas and are hyper-focused on minor details, they may be micromanaging.

Your employees’ reactions can also offer clues. Are they unresponsive or disengaged during meetings? Do conversations stop when the manager walks into the room? These can all be potential signs of micromanagement.

3. Look at your managers’ reports

Examine each manager’s reporting habits. If they’re requesting employees submit detailed reports of their daily tasks, you might be dealing with a micromanager. Overseeing employees’ time logs can be helpful, but critical feedback about tracked hours can make employees feel anxious about their work pace.

4. Determine if employees are progressing

Employees typically thrive when their supervisors give them direction and then step back to let them work. If your employees aren’t progressing, consider taking a closer look at manager-employee dynamics. Working under a micromanager can limit growth by decreasing motivation and limiting learning opportunities. Micromanagers tend to keep their knowledge to themselves to maintain a sense of control.

In a healthy work environment, a manager encourages employee growth. They may even serve as a mentor to lower-level employees. Effective managers support employees and help them reach their highest potential.

5. Take note of innovation

If innovation is stagnant at your company, observe how your managers react to new ideas. Are they responsive, or do they dismiss input from team members? Micromanagers tend to stifle innovation; they’re rarely open to inventive solutions or different perspectives. They also tend to avoid asking for feedback or input proactively or ignore the responses they receive.

A micromanager’s constant oversight can also suppress creativity. Some of the best ideas can come from employees who have a chance to sit and think through the possibilities.

How to stop micromanaging in the workplace

If you start to notice the signs of micromanagement in your workplace, addressing it immediately can help minimize the effects and improve the work environment. The following techniques can assist micromanagers in improving their methods:

1. Meet with the manager

Meeting with the manager can help you gain insight into the reason they micromanage and how you can help them improve. Share your observations, including specific instances of micromanagement and how it’s affecting the team. Then, you can discuss ways to create a better work environment.

You may face some resistance to this conversation, especially if the manager thrives on control. If the person’s behavior stems from a genuine desire to help, you might find that they’re more receptive to learning how to stop micromanaging. Keep the meeting positive and factual with an emphasis on improving rather than making it disciplinary.

2. Share feedback

It’s not always easy for a micromanager to recognize what they’re doing. They might genuinely feel as if they’re helping their team. Hearing feedback from their employees can help them understand their intentions are falling short. It helps them understand which behaviors are most damaging and could help them recognize how they need to change.

3. Define expectations

Clearly communicating the manager’s role and expectations can help direct their behavior in a positive direction. Clarify that the manager’s job is to support the company’s big-picture goals—they don’t need to be highly involved in every single task or project. Remind them that their role is to offer their team support, guidance and leadership. Detail what tasks they should be handling and which tasks they should delegate to their team.

4. Provide training opportunities

When micromanagement happens due to a lack of leadership skills, management training could help. Look for a training program that addresses specific areas of improvement for your manager. You might also set up an internal mentorship program with a more experienced manager.

5. Schedule ongoing meetings

Changing your management style isn’t a quick or easy process, even with support. Touch base with the micromanager regularly to review their progress. You can also give them feedback on your observations and see if they need additional resources.

Tips to prevent micromanagement

If you see signs of micromanagement in your business, it’s important to stop it quickly. Change starts with your managers. Work with them to create a more positive and productive environment. Here are some ways for managers to do this:

Trust employees. Great managers communicate project goals and responsibilities. Then, they step back. As long as employees are getting their work done, there’s no need to monitor their every move. If productivity drops, managers can discuss expectations with employees and request feedback.
Give positive feedback. Offering positive feedback to balance constructive criticism helps employees improve without making them feel defeated. The praise lets them know they’re appreciated even though they have room for improvement.
Offer learning opportunities. When employees have the chance to build new skills, they’re better able to support your company’s projects and initiatives. Managers can help by holding training sessions, promoting professional development courses or assigning new tasks.
Share responsibility for company goals. With transparent company-wide communication, you can ease the burden on your managers by holding regular meetings to discuss the company’s goals and empowering employees at all levels to meet these objectives.
Allow employees to move up. Create a work structure where employees at all levels have a chance to take on more responsibility. When authority is distributed throughout the workplace, you can prevent one manager from having excessive control.
Create simple rules. A rule-heavy workplace can lead to micromanagement. Instead, stick to a straightforward set of rules that’s easy to understand. This gives employees the space and autonomy they need to be both responsible and innovative.

FAQs about micromanagement

What causes micromanagement?

Leaders might adopt the micromanaging style for several reasons, including a lack of management experience. They may not have positive leadership strategies or lack confidence in themselves and worry about failing. They feel if they control everything, they can avoid failure. In some cases, the manager doesn’t trust their team or doubts their abilities.

How can you avoid hiring a micromanager?

Establishing a thorough interview process can help you identify and weed out potential micromanagers. Ask behavior-related questions when interviewing candidates for a management position, such as:

Can you describe your managerial style?
How do you like to give feedback to employees?
How do you encourage employee development?

Pay close attention to the responses. If the candidate shows a desire to support employees and offer guidance, they may be a good fit.

Related: How to Hire a Manager

What are some examples of micromanagement?

Looking at examples of micromanagement can help you spot the issue. One example is not delegating important work tasks to others. Micromanagers tend to keep those tasks to maintain control. Another example is being overly critical and making a big deal out of minor mistakes while ignoring employees’ accomplishments.

Other potential behaviors include always insisting on being copied on emails, demanding frequent project updates, requiring approval for each step of a task and never being satisfied with the team’s work.

Jumpstart your hiring with a $75 credit to sponsor your first job.*