Are you a Micromanager?
Dear Leader,
I hear you that you’re tired. That you feel you have to do it all yourself. You have this huge organization and so many people wanting things — the Board, the community, your employees — and you feel like your leadership team just keeps dropping the ball. If you don’t step in, everything will fall apart. You tell me this week after week with a mixture of exhaustion and is it . . . a little pride I hear in your voice?
You don’t like having to save the day, but you also admit it feels good. You’re tired, but you enjoy making all the decisions. You wish people would step up more, but it is true that all these projects are kind of fun and have meaningful impact. And you’re so much faster that it’s just easier to do it yourself.
I hate to break it to you, but you are exhibiting all the signs of being a Micromanager. It’s a common trap that leaders are determined not to fall into, but often still end up in. At the most senior levels of leadership, micromanagement is a toxic volcano that burns at the top and oozes down through a whole organization, leaving a thick molten mess of disengaged employees.
“But I do empower them,” you insist. “That’s the problem! I empower them, and then I get this horrible mess back and I have to fix it.”
We all have leadership habits that aren’t effective, and for leaders leading in the context of trauma, these habits often become amplified. It can be difficult to separate the fact of micromanaging from the intention. Somehow we think: this is how it works at work, even though it doesn’t work like that anywhere else. It’s like driving around with no turn signals and then being upset if people behind us don’t know we were “intending” to go right. We think: if I don’t mean to micromanage, then I must not be a micromanager. I wish it worked that way.
So let’s look at some of the specific behaviors I see most frequently from chronic micromanagers at senior levels. If you see yourself here, then it’s time to get serious about making some changes.
You delegate specific tasks without sharing the big picture or all of the information. (If I have to tell them everything, what’s the point of delegating?)
You are anxious and impatient — if they haven’t shown progress in (a few days, end of day, a few hours) you snatch it back and give it to someone else, often without telling either person. They eventually figure it out after a lot of confusion, and now more time has passed.
You say they are empowered to make all the decisions, but then you overrule them. You don’t give them actual control of the budget, or you make them keep a consultant they don’t want to use.
You give them something big, but then aren’t available for questions or coaching or brainstorming. (Again, what’s the point of delegating if I have to spend so much time with them?)
You pull the “swoop and poop” — after not being available for questions or engagement, you swoop in at the last minute, change everything, and save it from disaster.
The first step to repairing this is to acknowledge that you see yourself in some of these examples, and decide, really decide, that you want to empower your team and give them a chance to shine.
Remember how tired you said you were? This is the good news: you don’t have to do it all, even though you may believe you do. It requires a leap of faith and it means giving up some of your superhero complex, and letting yourself be surprised by how differently someone gets to the same result, maybe even seeing that these leaders are better than you at some things. I hope they are! I hope the leaders on your team are wildly better than you at most things. That is the mark of true leadership.
I hope you get to experience the joy and relief of letting your team rise to the challenge. The first step is deciding that you have the power to change. Are you ready to make that decision?
Your organization, your team, and your future self are hoping you say “Yes!”
Cheering for you,
Carolyn
Chief Executive Officer
Center for Trauma and Leadership