VIDEO: What is Micromanagement?

January 24, 2023

Micromanagers have a bad rep. But do we know what micromanagement actually looks like in practice?

Regardless of what industry you work in, micro-management has a bad reputation. Even for myself, I will say that the worst work environment for me personally is one in which I’m micromanaged.

The thing is, I have actually had a few people over the years while in Production in animation say that they actually don’t mind or even prefer being micro-managed. I remember being stunned a few years ago when someone who is now an Art Director told me specifically they NEED to be micromanaged to succeed at work.

I get this feeling that a lot of us complain about it, but we don’t actually know what micro management means or looks like in full. Fortunately, this chart from Radical Cantor: Be a Kick-ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott lays it all out for us. She identifies these traits of micromanagement:

The table above is from Radical Candor by Kim Scott

Scott identifies key characteristics of a micromanager as:

Hands-on, ears off, mouth on.
Lacks curiosity. Pretends to know.it all.
Doesn’t listen. Tells how.
Gets lost in the details.
Asks for make-work presentations, reports, and updates.
Sets goals arbitrarily
Tells people how to solve problems without fully understanding them.
Tells people how to remove obstacles/defuse situations, but watches from a safe distance
Pretends to know when they don’t.
Hoards information

We can see some common themes with Scott’s table:

Not listening
Pretending to know it all
Not collaborating

Going back to my example earlier of the Art Director, I wonder if their self-confessed need for micromanagement is actually symptomatic of something else: they don’t need to be micromanaged, they need to be set up for success.

Looking back, as a coordinator (and referring to Scott’s table if it had existed then), I probably should have tried these things instead, in collaboration with their supervisor at the time:

Listened more
Asked where in particular this person was struggling with their workload
Helped them to understand departmental targets better
Provided more information and reference relevant to their tasks

I think sometimes that the terms ‘micromanaging’ and ‘hand holding’ are used interchangeably. If we are doing too much hand-holding, then perhaps we need to be looking at how we are training people or ramping them up for a role.

For example, what gaps in the training process need to be filled out more? Do we have the right people involved to help train and mentor crew in their roles? In the case of micro-management, I think the more work we put in up front (i.e. prevention, being proactive, proper training) will help avoid micromanagement down the line.