How To Know If You Micro-Manage

My Business On Purpose

Well, it's first thing here in the office. These are the times that, when I'm in town—we travel quite a bit for work—I like to be able to come in when it’s not super busy because you can actually get a lot of things done. But how do you know that you're not really tiptoeing around like a mouse, micromanaging everybody else that's coming in, and making them feel this pressure, like you're constantly looking over their shoulder?

We have a tool called the Seesaw of Predictability I wanted to introduce you to.

Hey, it's Scott Beebe with Business On Purpose. Make sure you tune in to every episode of the Business On Purpose podcast. Also, two of our guys, Sean and Brandon, have started the Dickie and Donnie Do Business podcast. You want to make sure it’s on your radar—go listen to every episode. My kids are listening to it, a lot of our clients are listening to it, and many folks who are not yet clients are listening too. It’s a fascinating podcast.

So let's talk about this issue of micromanagement. Understanding the fine line between what we call effective leadership on one hand, and micromanagement on the other, is essential for you as a business owner or key leader. That’s where the concept of the Seesaw of Predictability comes in.

Just imagine a seesaw in your mind. It offers a simple but powerful way to gauge whether you’re leading effectively or slipping down that slope of micromanagement. To determine if you’re micromanaging, ask yourself a key question—probably good to write this down: Am I asking the right question at the right time? Stop there and really meditate on that. When either of those elements is out of balance, like a seesaw, you’re likely micromanaging.

Let’s consider some scenarios.

Scenario 1: Asking the wrong question at the right time. Imagine you’re in a team meeting and suddenly request sales figures from 11 years ago. While the timing might be appropriate since it’s during a meeting, the question is irrelevant to the current discussion and goals. It throws people off because it’s unexpected. Remember the RPMs of great leadership: Repetition, Predictability, and Meaning.

Scenario 2: Asking the right question at the wrong time. Let’s say you need last week’s sales results. Perfectly reasonable request. However, if you text your team at 11:37 PM on a Friday demanding the information, you’ve crossed into micromanagement.

Scenario 3: Asking the right question at the right time. You request last week’s sales results during this week’s sales meeting. That’s spot on. This demonstrates leadership and accountability—exactly what you should be aiming for.

There’s a time to ask the appropriate question, and there’s a time not to. If you can maintain that balance—or what we like to call rhythm—you can lead your entire business with healthy leadership practices.

The goal is to equip the team with the knowledge tools they need to handle recurring challenges. By the way, that’s a subtle definition of leadership: to equip people. Think of an empty toolbelt—you’re giving them tools, equipping them with knowledge and skills to handle recurring problems. Because even if we “solve” a problem, it doesn’t disappear forever—it often just retreats, only to reappear somewhere else. That’s how chaos works. And chaos won’t be fully defeated until much later in life.

Additionally, you should proactively begin sharpening those tools, just like you’d sharpen a knife. Ashley and I like to cook meal kits at home. They ship you all the ingredients and make you feel like a chef. One of the first things I always do is sharpen the knife with that little post—whatever they call that. Similarly, part of leadership is proactively sharpening your tools through training and development.

When you ask the right questions at the right time, it not only helps you avoid micromanagement but also empowers your team to perform at their best. You create an environment of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement. Those are all hallmarks of effective leadership.

Hey, I know a lot of you have questions around this. Go to businessonpurpose.com/ask. If you're a business owner with three or more employees and doing $1M+ in revenue, our coaches reserve slots each week for a 15-minute no-strings-attached call to answer any questions you’ve got. We call it Ask Us Anything. Go to businessonpurpose.com/ask.

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