When leaders ask their teams, “what’s the one thing you want me to start doing or stop doing to get the best out of you?”, the most common answer over the last forty years has been: stop micromanaging me!
Back in 1985, Deci & Ryan broke ground on the problem of micromanaging with their work on motivation psychology entitled Self-Determination Theory that highlighted autonomy, competence and relatedness (connection with others or belonging) as key drivers for performance.
Later, Daniel Pink’s influential book Drive and Bernard Bass’ Transformational Leadership theory further clarified the key factors to get the most out of people.
If we’ve known about this problem for forty years, why does it still exist?
Well, when we speak to leaders, their reasons are often well-intentioned, despite being wrong:
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A key governance responsibility to mitigate risk – micromanaging every step and person involved
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An inability to step away from the doing to the leading – old habits die hard
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A lack of trust and confidence in the team – failure to build a key foundation of performing teams – trust and vulnerability framework.
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A desire to help out – whilst this may make the leader feel good, it often reduces the confidence, capability, enthusiasm of the team members, and it dilutes resilience
All of this results in getting in the way, creating silly rules, and bottlenecking.
Conversely, transformational leadership—which empowers individuals, sets clear goals, and fosters development—has been shown to increase productivity, satisfaction, and innovation. Leaders who delegate, support rather than control, and trust their teams unlock higher levels of engagement and performance.
More recently, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report (2023) found that only 23% of employees are engaged at work—and a lack of trust in leadership is a key factor. When leaders overly control, they inadvertently create learned helplessness, where team members stop taking initiative because they expect their actions will be overridden.
Harvard Business Review highlights that anxious micromanagers stem from personal insecurities, but shifting to trust-based leadership yields better results. The study found that micromanaged employees are significantly more likely to experience stress, decreased morale, and ultimately leave their positions.
NEXT STEPS – How to Fix This?
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We encourage leaders to start with self-reflection and self-analysis. What can I do first before I seek to change others? Here we suggest you reflect on your behaviour over the last week, month or quarter. Have you empowered or micromanaged? If you keep a journal, focus on this for the next week and see what patterns emerge. Perhaps ask for feedback – from those above you, around you and even below you.
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Communicate your findings, your desire to change, the need for support and encourage others to call you out – with respect and empathy.
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Build a Trust and Vulnerability Framework. Whilst this requires everyone in the team to go on the journey, it’s a journey worth taking.
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Delegate clearly – start small and build up. Like most things, our proven method is incremental habits that take advantage of the compounding effect of persistent improvements.
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Review and Monitor – ensure you’re vigilant on feedback loops so you can make ongoing corrections and calibrate to the changing environment.
Letting go is hard—but it may be the best thing you do as a leader. Every leader got there because someone believed in them; they now have an obligation to build up the next wave of leaders.
