Giving up control is probably the best way to develop more competent employees and happier customers. And those outcomes add up to professional success for you.
People need a sense of control. Understanding this fact helps you make better management decisions, career choices and products. So many fraught circumstances can be explained or understood by the human need for control.
Why do supervisors micromanage? And why do the people being micromanaged hate it so much? In both cases, the culprit is control.
When tasks are assigned or delegated to a subordinate, the manager feels a loss of control. This out-of-control feeling is interpreted as, “They can’t do it as well as I can.” Or “They’ll get the credit for this instead of me.” Or “I don’t understand what’s happening with the project.” So they try to regain a sense of control through micromanaging.
More of the Baseline article from Mike Elgan
