How Micromanagement Is Harming Your Company

Abby Gilmore

Writer

November 15, 2022

7 min read

A survey performed by Trinity Solutions revealed that 79% of employees had experienced some form of micromanagement during their careers. And of those employees, 85% said micromanaging negatively impacted their workplace morale.

Are you micromanaging your employees?

Micromanagement can be highly detrimental to employee satisfaction at your company and can lead to higher turnover rates. Keep reading to learn about micromanaging, the negative consequences, and the solutions.

What Counts As Micromanagement?

As leaders, we like to think that we trust our teams to do the right thing and to work to the beat of their drum. However, we often look over our teams’ shoulders when the pressure hits to ensure nothing goes wrong.

If you’re unsure whether you’re micromanaging your team or not, check out this clear-cut list of examples:

• Over-approving your team’s work – if you find yourself checking over every minute detail of your team’s work, you’re probably micromanaging.

• Asking for too many updates – you should be able to trust your team to work independently without asking for an update every five minutes. If this sounds like you, you’re probably micromanaging.

• Rejection of delegation – a micromanager will have difficulty delegating tasks to their team, believing they must do it to get it done. However, taking work away from your team could impact their confidence and make them feel incompetent at the job the company hired them to do.

• Convoluted instructions – if you find yourself over-explaining details and instructions to your team, you might be guilty of micromanagement. Your team can read and make inferences from the instructions alone, and you might be wasting time.

• Over-communication – asking employees to discuss every detail of their communications with others and daily workload with you counts as micromanaging. Your employees deserve to handle their business within the company without feeding the information back to you.

Why Is Micromanaging Bad For Your Company?

To help you understand why it’s in your best interest to quit micromanaging your employees, this section will cover the main reasons why micromanaging is bad for your company.

More Stress

If your employees’ stress levels rise, their work may suffer. A competent project manager allows them to breathe and work at their own pace, enabling them to create a healthy work-life balance.

Higher Turnover Rates

The average employee for an SME costs £12,000 to replace in the UK, and $17,000.00 in the U.S. If your employees feel stressed, uncomfortable, or discouraged at work, you’re more likely to lose them.

Micromanaging could drive turnover rates up. When you onboard and upskill employees, you’re investing, hoping to get at least a few years of return. If your employees leave, they take the training you invested in with them. Rehiring and retraining employees will only inhibit your productivity levels.

Discouraging Creativity And Critical Thinking

If you don’t give your employees the freedom to explore and experiment with ideas, you’ll kill any chance of creativity in your business. No creativity means a lack of innovation, halting your business’ development.

Additionally, if you’re constantly picking on your employees and pointing out their mistakes, you’re taking an opportunity away from them. Your employees must use critical thinking to spot errors and revise their work.

Lack Of Trust

If you don’t trust your employees to do a good job and get the work done, you’re letting them know that you don’t trust them. This lack of trust can create a toxic work environment, as it will give your employees the impression that you think they’re incompetent.

Poor Communication

When you micromanage your employees, you’re overbearing. Your employees might be sick of receiving feedback, so when they need help, they might be reluctant to reach out and ask for it.

How To Solve Your Micromanagement Problem

If you’re micromanaging your employees, it’s time for a change. To solve your micromanagement problem, you might wish to implement the following modifications and tips:

• Using a work management platform – work management platforms give your employees their workload in a user-friendly format. You can receive real-time updates when they finish a task, and you can check up on their progress anytime without dropping them an email or message.

• Reducing your interactions – you can limit your micromanagement habit by reducing employee interactions. Wait for them to get in touch with you. If they need you, you’ll be there.

• Implement performance reviews – rather than giving your employees constant feedback on their work and errors, you can implement biweekly or monthly performance reviews to indicate potential areas for improvement.

• Stick to short project briefs – if you’re providing employees with instructions for a project, use short written project briefs. Once your employee has the brief, they can read it on their own, and if they have any questions, they’ll let you know. Send the brief, and don’t send any follow-ups or explanations.

Summary

Micromanagement is a severe issue in any management strategy. Consider whether you might be micromanaging and how to reduce micromanagement. Project management software can help you assign projects to your employees without micromanaging.