Micromanage: to manage especially with excessive control or attention to details

Have you ever-wondered why people micromanage others? I believe people micromanage others because they cannot manage themselves. However, in some cases, it is a learning process in the leadership development role of what not to do. As you will (hopefully) see, micromanaging or in a simpler word, controlling, can be disastrous to your career, to the career of another and/or relationships.

Truth be told, micromanaging really does not cause a more productive environment; in fact, it accomplishes the opposite. In my situation, being micromanaged has caused severe resentment and tension. I am in a relationship that is not only intimate, but a home based business as well. I get double the dose of “management”. As my life is more and more micromanaged, I find that I rebel by stopping the tasks that I currently accomplish and not take on any new tasks.

The thing about micromanaging is that instead of motivating someone to perform, it oppresses the desire to perform. You may find that the one you are managing is becoming slower in completing tasks; their attitude has changed from "can do" to "why bother". This is because you are micromanaging and constantly correcting them, telling them how to do routine tasks and creating deadlines that are not reasonable.

A micromanager is so focused on other people that they sometimes fail to get their own work done. They tend to blame their failure to meet task schedules on someone else. "I had to help Sally and was unable to do it." By helping Sally, they meant, stand over her shoulder and constantly point out her mistakes and insist that they be fixed while standing there.

Micromanaging in a relationship can be more detrimental to you than in the workforce. Whether you are the manager or the one being managed, it causes problems. Do you tell your partner what to do, when to do it and how, step-by-step, to do it? Do you monitor their text messages, phone calls or question their every move? You may be called a controlling person, but it is just the relationship term for micromanaging.

Typically in the workplace, when a person is micromanaged to such a point that the job just isn’t worth the compensation, be it money or personal gratification in the work, a person will quit the job and find another one or find another one and then quit. Either way, the person leaves the situation. This is also true for micromanaged relationships.

Now do you see the damage micromanaging can do?