Micromanagement is not leadership.
It’s a fear manifest.
You send a signal when you don’t trust your team’s work.
A loud one.
You say, “I don’t believe in you.”
You say, “I have to do it all myself.”
You might think you’re protecting quality.
You’re not.
You’re actually undercutting your effectiveness.
And theirs.
I like to say you’re cheating two people: You’re cheating yourself out of the opportunity to become a better leader and the other person out of the chance to be better at what they do.
You remove the opportunity for learning, accountability, and problem-solving.
You rob your team of the chance to stretch, improve, and fail forward.
The trust you withhold becomes the loyalty they withhold.
The loyalty they withhold becomes the turnover you never saw coming.
Thereby, your culture decays.
Silently.
A culture where no one feels safe taking ownership quickly becomes one where no one bothers trying.
Everyone waits for direction.
No one innovates.
Everything takes longer.
If you want your team to become better, stop doing their job.
Let them do it.
Coach.
Push back with clarity, not control.
Hold the bar high—but let them reach for it.
Thereby, trust isn’t a soft skill.
It’s an operational strategy.
“Withholding trust is the fastest way to poison performance.” — Mike Brewer