Too much micromanagement or too little management?

In a recent workshop, a senior leader asked me: “Luca, how do I know what is too much micromanagement?”

My answer started with, “All micromanagement is bad, but not doing enough management for fear of micromanaging is also bad.”

I then continued with three rules of thumb to differentiate between the two:

• Feedback on methods (how you would have done the task) is micromanagement.
• Feedback on outcomes (“That’s below standard” or “You crossed this boundary”) is never micromanagement.
• Clarifying what matters is never micromanagement.

Good leaders give extremely frequent feedback on outcomes, to catch misunderstandings early. This is critical, for a misunderstanding that goes on for days will inevitably become a source of frustration and perceived unfairness.

Conversely, bad leaders give frequent feedback on methods and/or infrequent feedback on outcomes.

Do not let your fear of micromanaging keep you from adequately giving your subordinate the information, direction, and feedback they need to perform at their best.