Micromanagement in our company. A tool takes a screenshot of our system every 10 minutes and counts our mouse and keyboard clicks.

Micromanagement, also called micromanaging, is a style of management in which the boss keeps a close eye on the workers. This means that employees have to be totally focused on their jobs, which limits their creativity, freedom, and ability to contribute. It often hurts the experience and motivation of employees, which leads to a high turnover rate.

Signs of a micromanager at work

• Being too worried about every step a worker takes to finish a job

• Unable to believe that a group of people can do their jobs well

• Everything they do must be approved by their team.

• They always try to do the best they can. Even though it’s good to try to be perfect, you have to realise that you can’t be perfect in everything.

• Employers don’t trust their employees to come up with new ideas, so employees don’t contribute as much.

• Always eager to get a job done quickly and well, which is a bad mix. You need to give your team enough time to do the job well.

• A micromanager usually thinks they know everything. They are sure that they are the only ones who can do what needs to be done. In this case, it leads to a low delegation.

• Focusing on what people do wrong instead of building on what they do well They don’t acknowledge and cheer for their team in public.

• The way an office works can be hurt by micromanagement. When managers’ bosses put a lot of pressure on them to meet goals, they pass that pressure on to the front lines. Because of this, the organisation’s overall performance gets worse.

The bad things that come from micromanagement

In today’s business world, the results of micromanagement are terrible. Employees have to deal with a suffocating work environment, which hurts both their experience and how well they do their jobs. But think about this from a boss’s point of view.

Micromanagement has some bad effects.

Destroys faith

This is without a doubt the worst thing about micromanaging your employees. Your team no longer sees you as a shining, armoured leader, but as a harsh boss. Your obsessive focus on details is making your subordinates less likely to trust you.

High rates of leaving

Right off the bat, it should be said that people don’t like people who are too bossy. It means that if you are one, your employees will only cause frustration, a drop in output, and, eventually, a rise in turnover rates.

A lot of being tired

In a funny way, this affects not only your staff but also you. Here’s a quick check on the real world: You get tired from micromanaging. If you treat your employees like children and keep an eye on everything they do, you will get tired very quickly.

Dependable Employees

The unintended result of this style of management is that it makes your employees or subordinates dependent on you. When employees don’t have control over their tasks, they lose faith in the project and their ability to work on it.

We can’t see as far or do as much.

The loss of control and vision is another effect that doesn’t get enough attention. Managers who ask their employees for frequent updates are likely to lose sight of the big picture and only look at short-term rewards.