The travails of micromanagement

People leave managers, not companies” is a common refrain while discussing corporate leadership.

There are many management styles of which some can be really successful, while others can have a negative impact on the employee and the company. Micromanagement is marked by excessive supervision and control of employees’ work and processes, as well as limited delegation of tasks or decisions to staff.

Ram S Ramanathan, former president of an engineering conglomerate and the author of Recreating your future says that poor-performing employees do better with micromanagers as they need no initiative and fewer skills.

Tarun Chandna, a partner at a leadership consulting firm says, “The positives of micromanaging in some cases could be attention to detail, focus on quality of product or process or exceptional customer service. But these work only in the short term. Over the long term, micromanagement can be detrimental to the team and the organisation.”

These are the positives of micromanaging:

Training an inexperienced team: Micromanagement is sometimes beneficial for a short period while the manager is training an inexperienced team, guiding a new team member, or handling a challenging project.

Cushioning the employee from the client: Micromanagement gives the employees a bit of space when it comes to making mistakes. When the employee makes mistakes only their micromanaging boss will see this, giving some amount of leeway for employees to make mistakes and learn from them without being anxious.

Attention to detail, focus on quality: If there’s an important project that needs to be delivered, micromanaging with attention to detail can get the results the manager wants as each step along the way will be closely monitored and corrected.

Avoiding costly mistakes: For critical projects, a micromanaging boss can ensure that the results are perfect by correcting mistakes that would have turned out to be costly if the manager had not intervened at every stage.

Damages of micromanaging

Micromanaging gives some managers the wrong notion that they are in control, but sooner or later employees will begin to feel undermined and resentful as trust levels begin to erode. When a manager interferes in every task, shoots down ideas and restrains one repeatedly, it destroys the ingenuity and innovation of the employee.

Little by little, employees stop taking initiative, give up on suggesting fresh ideas and simply do the tasks that are assigned.

Companies spend time and resources to hire talented, creative, passionate and self-motivated individuals. All this can be undone easily by micromanaging someone capable of delivering results on one’s own.

Pradeep Patil, a management professional working in a German multinational company says, “To be a good manager one must have the right balance between oversight and autonomy, to further the interests of the company.”

Demotivated employees

A study by Accountemps showed that about 59% of people were micromanaged at some point in their careers. Of them, 68% said it had decreased their morale, and 55% claimed it had hurt their productivity.

Chandna says, “A micromanager can make employees feel that they are not trusted, and they will not able to use their experience or skills. This can lead to employees looking for other better opportunities.”

Micromanagement wastes valuable time of employees and managers. Instead of using the time to focus on the work the manager is required to do, he or she will be spending time and resources on interfering with work that can be handled easily by the employee.

Micromanagement causes stress for everyone involved. The psychological effects of micromanagement can contribute to the development of a toxic work environment. Common signs of a toxic workplace created by micromanaging include a lack of employee initiative, being scared of taking action, and a poor level of trust and recognition.

Chronic stress can have harmful consequences on the whole team as it affects employee satisfaction, well-being, performance, and productivity. Micromanagers are also at a higher risk of depression. If not minimised, this can result in burnout for both managers and employees.

Handling a micromanager

There are various ways to handle a micromanager. “Micromanagement often happens from insecurity and a need for control. It is a clear divider between managers and leaders. Micromanagers are very often not team players. They want to show that they know more than others and can perform better than others. Leaders believe in finding the right people to do the job, and influence and inspire them, knowing that the success of their team will ensure their own growth as well. With systematic training and coaching, managers with a tendency to micromanage will come to realise that their performance improves the more they delegate. They will also be able to manage their time better and prioritise and focus on the big picture,” says Ramanathan.

Gurbinder Punn, an advisor of a multi-national automotive company, says, “Communication is the key for employees working with a micromanager. It’s crucial to put yourself in the manager’s shoes and consider their concerns, as their actions are typically motivated by a need to avoid making mistakes or keep things under control. Employees can earn their superiors’ trust over time through frequent displays of knowledge, dependability, and candour. The manager’s perceived need to micromanage can be reduced through proactive communication of changes, requests for feedback and open discussions of expectations.” He adds that if things don’t improve things can be escalated to human resources or higher-ups.

“A combination of introspection, communication, coaching, and formalised learning can help micromanagers. 360-degree reviews with members of the team, and self-evaluation instruments can all help employees get insight into their own performance. Building trust, delegating authority and encouraging initiative are all skills that can benefit greatly from training,” Gurbinder says.

Pradeep Patil says, “Be people-oriented more than outcome-focused. Trust your team, let their creativity flow, listen to their needs, support them, and success will follow.”

(Reji Varghese is an industrialist and a journalist. Avril Quadros is a certified ICF and emotional agility coach.)