Are You Micromanaging or Micro-Mentoring? Learn the difference and how to better manage your team.
Ever worry about how hands-on or hands-off to be as a manager?
It’s a common topic amongst workplace leaders that I’ve experienced leading my own teams and in discussions with coaching clients.
Everyone’s walking on eggshells, afraid of stepping in too often or saying too much. On the flip side, we’re stressed about saying or doing too little which could lead to disastrous results.
I had a colleague who was hired to build a workshop for a company. My colleague sent the slides to the leader for their review and was met with, “I don’t feel the need to micromanage this.” Why? The company interpreted the request for alignment as being asked to micromanage the project. The leader had misused this term. Their feedback and alignment would have made the project better. Later, they told my colleague that she had “missed the mark”.
Micromanagement has negative connotations we all want to avoid, but it can sometimes get mislabelled when it’s actually a justified need for more support, information sharing, and alignment building.
It’s important as leaders to understand the difference between micromanaging and micro-mentoring so we can know when it’s supportive or disempowering to step in, while at the same time ensure we all receive what we need from each other to thrive in our work.
What’s the Difference Between Micromanaging and Micro-Mentoring?
Micromanagement is a control-based management style rooted in power dynamics. It results in excessive supervision, lack of autonomy, rigid dictation of processes and a lack of trust.
Micro-mentoring is a supportive management style rooted in helpful guidance and productive accountability. This style focuses on big-picture thinking, autonomy, constructive feedback, aligned outcomes and team growth.
What Causes Micromanagement?
Micromanagement is a form of control-based leadership caused by a wide variety of factors including:
Poor communication and misalignment
Fear and insecurity
Obsession and rigidity over the process rather than the outcome
Perfectionism and the belief that only you can do things at the highest quality standard
A lack of trust and confidence in your team’s skills and execution abilities
Unreasonable standards caused by not understanding your team’s work
Why Your Management Style Matters
“People don’t leave jobs or companies, they leave their manager.”
People don’t leave jobs or companies, they leave their manager.
In a 2025 survey by Acccountemps, 59% of workers stated they’ve worked for a micromanager, with 68% of them experiencing a decline in morale as a direct result.
Micromanagement can erode relationships, reduce productivity, decrease innovation and increase turnover, to name a few. Change in your leadership style and workplace starts with self-awareness and simple actions to incorporate into your management practices.
What You Can Do to Shift Away From Micromanaging and Into Micro-Mentoring
1. Evaluate Your Leadership Behaviors
As you manage your team members be aware of:
Intention: is your intention to control or provide essential guidance and accountability?
Urgency: can you give your team a reasonable amount of time to figure something out or is this an urgent task?
Focus: do the fine details matter or are there multiple paths to get to the same outcome?
Communication: have you set clear, measurable goals with your team or are you misaligned?
Expectations: are your asks reasonable or out of touch with what the work requires?
2. Implement Actionable Leadership Management Strategies
Try some of these actions to get you started:
Have a transparent conversation with your team about the work, goals and expectations
Give your team the space and autonomy to make decisions and discern the right process
Analyze what you can let go of controlling and what is truly essential to manage for accountability and outcomes
Communicate why you need something to avoid your team mislabelling it as micromanagement
Take time to understand your team’s strengths and delegate accordingly so you can feel confident in their work
Talk about your efforts to not micromanage and create an open dialogue on the topic
3. Lean Into Micro-Mentoring
Translate accidental micromanaging into micro-mentoring by:
Walking through in detail where the process does matter
Sharing best practices that work for you, but without attachment
Using coaching skills to support your team members on what is getting in their way
Focusing on the big-picture, but also dipping into the weeds if and when your team members ask for more support
Conclusion
Successful leaders, micro-mentor, rather than micromanage. Take the time to evaluate your behavior, and understand where you need to pull back in order to create better work environments and results.
What’s one way you can shift from micromanaging to micro-mentoring in your leadership today?
If you’re struggling to let go or unsure of how to navigate different areas from team development to coaching, we can work with you to develop a solution.
