Micromanagement is poison

french version here

We feel like a puppet (or child) and not a professional when we are micromanaged.

If you take talented individuals and subject them to micromanagement, you end up with several problems on your hands:

1. Work Overload: For the person already engaged in micro-managing. Even if they are generally willing, they may not realize the more impactful tasks they could be doing instead. 🤦‍♂️
2. Less Resilient Organization: A strong dependency on a single person makes the organization vulnerable in case of the absence or leave of that person (see. Bus factor)
3. Loss of Autonomy: Constant surveillance and detailed task instructions de facto reduce the autonomy of individuals.
4. Motivation and Engagement killer: Micro-management suggests a lack of trust, negatively affecting the engagement and motivation of those experiencing it.
5. Counterproductive Stress: The pressure of micro-management can lead to mistakes and failures in individuals who are otherwise competent in different circumstances.
6. Risk of Burnout: Both for the manager and the managed person. When micro-management becomes a personal preference rather than an organizational policy, it often indicates that the person is already under stress.
7. Isolated Individuals: In some cases, as they are less informed or connected with the others. Their primary source of feedback being the person micro-managing them.
8. Less Informed Decisions: Since feedback often comes from a single person (the micromanager), there is a higher susceptibility to cognitive biases and a lack of additional useful feedback from a broader circle. This can impact the quality of decision-making and frame your thinking.
9. Poor Cross-Team Communication and Alignment: In cases where the micro-manager insists on others going through them before communicating with others. Star communication is, in fact, the subject of an upcoming article.

Revealer of Deeper Issues

Micro-management is often a strategy, a degraded operating mode in response to personal insecurity of the micro-manager or when trust is lacking between two individuals. What’s most unfortunate is that this strategy worsens and complicates the situation, creating a spiral of failure and managerial immaturity.

Micromanagement is a revealer of deeper Issues

In essence, micro-management is not a sign of maturity or progress, whether for individuals or organizations. Root it out if you want to work in a mature and genuinely effective organization.