This Is the No. 1 Mistake People Make as a Boss

Once upon a time, I worked for a bad boss, whom I nicknamed “the Chopper.” As I share in my book, The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn from Bad Bosses, the Chopper genuinely seemed to enjoy micromanaging all of us — he mastered the art. Doing all of our jobs seemed to bring him so much more joy than doing his own job. He never stepped into the role he was meant to do: to coach, to train and to lead. My experience with the Chopper left me pondering this question: Why can’t some bosses stop micromanaging?

Many of us have experienced micromanagement firsthand; we know it can stop us from taking initiative and start to slowly erode trust on the team. We no longer feel valued. We can become disengaged and demotivated. Ultimately, being micromanaged can affect our performance. Some of us may be labeled a “poor performer” and pushed out of the company.

So on this National Boss’s Day, let’s stop ourselves from falling into one of the most notorious bad boss behaviors out there: micromanaging. Ask yourself these three questions to stop micromanaging in its tracks.

Related: Your Pointless Micromanaging Is Costing Your Business Millions – Here Are 5 Ways to Fix It

How do I know if I am micromanaging?

Sometimes, your team or colleagues may directly say that you are micromanaging. This may come up in employee engagement survey results, in performance review feedback or in a live discussion. It may come up in employee exit interviews, so be sure to understand the reasons why people choose to leave.

Sometimes, they won’t use the word micromanaging. Here are some of the things they might say instead:

Mita doesn’t trust me to do the work I am leading and drive results.

Mita doesn’t have regular check-ins with me. Instead, we meet constantly, but our time together is inefficient.

I can never actually make any decision on my own. Mita has to approve everything.

Mita redoes most of my work. I’m unclear what I did wrong.

Persistent micromanagement can start to set little fires on your team and erode inclusion and trust. In employee engagement surveys, you may see a dip in team morale. You may also see an increase in self-reported burnout, loss of trust and feeling a loss of control. Your team may be missing deadlines, may be less productive, unable to deliver high-quality work and ultimately may walk out the door.

Related: Why You Need to Stop Micromanaging Your Team and Learn to Let Go

How do I understand why I might be micromanaging?

In my time coaching leaders, very few proclaim that they are a micromanager. So let’s identify the root causes of micromanaging. What causes us to hover like helicopters?

Review the following statements. Be honest with yourself about what resonates:

I feel a loss of control in my personal life, so I am finding ways to regain control at work, focusing on the details that I can directly affect and have ownership over.

I have issues trusting people. It’s hard for me to believe that someone can do the job as well as I can. I don’t know how to hold people accountable or what to do if they make mistakes.

I have trouble unplugging and enjoying my time off from work. I can’t remember the last time I took a vacation and wasn’t checking and responding to email or Slack. I get anxious when things are quiet and I don’t know what’s happening.

I have too many things to do at work and at home. If I do it myself instead of delegating, it will be faster. It will take me too long to explain what needs to be done.

I actually really enjoy being in the details and doing the actual work. I don’t enjoy coaching and directing people to do the work.

Once you understand why you are micromanaging, you can then focus on how to stop this behavior.

Related: How to Strike a Balance Between Micromanaging and Under-Managing

How do I stop micromanaging?

As leaders, we must understand the difference between micromanaging and coaching. When we micromanage, we tell our teams exactly how to do their work, monitor how the work is being done and we may end up doing the work for them. When we coach, we spend time explaining our expectations for inputs and outputs, teach them the skills they need to complete the task at hand, coach them through mistakes, empower them to make an impact and reach their potential at work.

Refer to these questions to monitor your micromanaging tendencies:

Why do I want to redo the work my team submitted? Is it factually inaccurate? Is it not presented in a clear and concise manner?

Why do I need to make this decision? What happens if someone else on this team makes the decision?

What details matter and what details don’t matter? Have I communicated this to my team?

What work can I delegate? What work am I holding onto and need to let go of?

Do I consistently ask for feedback from my team on what I can do differently? To make sure I am not hovering, and I am in coach mode?

Finally, am I excited to manage and coach people, or have I been pressured into leading teams? Would I be happier building my expertise as an individual contributor?

Micromanaging over time can destroy our cultures. It’s the small ways in which we hover over teams, do their work for them and our inability to coach and teach that can set little fires in the organization. Teams become demotivated and stop contributing ideas. They can’t make decisions on their own or do meaningful work because they have been trained that their boss will tell them exactly what to do.

So don’t become that bad boss who hovers like a helicopter. Don’t spend the time you have available squeezing the joy out of work and breaking trust and inclusion on your teams. Spend that time you have available to help your teams do their very best work.

Once upon a time, I worked for a bad boss, whom I nicknamed “the Chopper.” As I share in my book, The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn from Bad Bosses, the Chopper genuinely seemed to enjoy micromanaging all of us — he mastered the art. Doing all of our jobs seemed to bring him so much more joy than doing his own job. He never stepped into the role he was meant to do: to coach, to train and to lead. My experience with the Chopper left me pondering this question: Why can’t some bosses stop micromanaging?

Many of us have experienced micromanagement firsthand; we know it can stop us from taking initiative and start to slowly erode trust on the team. We no longer feel valued. We can become disengaged and demotivated. Ultimately, being micromanaged can affect our performance. Some of us may be labeled a “poor performer” and pushed out of the company.

So on this National Boss’s Day, let’s stop ourselves from falling into one of the most notorious bad boss behaviors out there: micromanaging. Ask yourself these three questions to stop micromanaging in its tracks.