Being micromanaged sucks. Having a boss looking over your shoulder and telling you how to do every. little. thing, as if you have no clue how to get on with it on your own, is deeply frustrating. We know this.

And yet even when we’ve been on the receiving of micromanagement, it’s still all too easy for us to inflict this pain on others. We go up the ladder with the best of intentions, and then suddenly, we find ourselves asking to check over someone’s email before they send it. We become what we despised. It’s like they (sort of) say in The Dark Knight: you either quit a hero or live long enough to become the bad manager.

This isn’t a malicious decision, but the result of all sorts of other junk that messes with your management style. Things like having a lot of pressure from above or dealing with a team member’s hit-and-miss performance can make you prone to micromanaging, and once you slip into the habit it can be tricky to climb back out.

“So-called bad management is often much more about managers trying hard to do their best in challenging circumstances and often in the only way they know how,” notes coach and author Nick Robinson. “Anxiety and lack of confidence often underpin micro-managing.”

That’s an important reminder that we shouldn’t beat ourselves up if we start micromanaging. What’s vital, though, is recognising when we’re falling into the micromanagement trap and doing what we can to tackle it. So, how do we do that?

How to stop micromanaging at work