What do Ken Blanchard, Joe Torre, and Jay-Z have in common? All of them can speak to effective management instead of micromanagement. In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions Podcast Todd Adkins, Eric Geiger, and I talk about the good and (almost all) bad of micromanagement and the effects it has on both people and culture. And yes, we do talk Jay-Z, Joe Torre, and Ken Blanchard not to mention Ed Catmull, Uber, and more. We ask the following questions:

* How do you define micromanagement?

* What does micromanagement say about a leader as well as the employee being micromanaged?

* Is micromanagement ever healthy and useful?

* BONUS Question: What do you do when the policies and systems of an organization reflect a culture of micromanagement?

* What harm can micromanagement have on employees and an organization?

* How can a leader self-evaluate to see if he or she is micromanaging?

Best Quotes

“Micromanagement is over-managing someone who doesn’t need it.”

“Don’t hire great people and then micro-manage them until they leave.”

“What some people say is micromanagement is really leadership giving an appropriate amount of direction.”

“The leader is the servant.”

“If you’re skilled and experienced in a part of your role you have every right to think ‘give me some overall direction and let me run.’”

“You’ve gotta Joe Torre your boy.”

“As a leader micromanagement says you are not confident and secure in your own leadership.”

“Micromanagement says that a leader is unable to develop people.”

“Micromanagement speaks to a lack of trust.”

“The person who is claiming to be micromanaged when the person is only being led with directional leadership has a massive misperception of their own skills and experience.”

“When people are new to roles or are not yet proven they actually need your hands-on leadership. That’s not micromanagement.”

“Some leaders are so afraid of being accused of micromanagement that they become too hands-off.”

“If it’s directional leadership that’s necessary it’s not micromanagement.”

“Systems and policies can be just as micromanaging as a boss can be.”

“You have to be willing to kill a policy and create a policy all the time.”

“If your policies and your systems have gotten to the point where they’re oppressing people instead of making people’s lives easier you’ve gotten it backwards.”

“People are ultimately the most valuable asset you have.”

“People will not be developed with micromanagement, and because of that your high capacity highly driven people will bolt.”

“If you’re a micromanager you likely haven’t developed trust and transparency.”

“The only people who love management are managers.”

“The people who will always have a job are people who are able to work themselves out of a job.”

Recommended Resources

Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

“Why Micromanaging is Ungodly” by Barnabas Piper

“Stop Saying Your Being Micromanaged If . . .” by Eric Geiger

“You are Micormanaging If . . .” by Eric Geiger

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch