The Most “Thorough” Micro-managing Managers Stall the Fastest Teams

Every revision draft you submit comes back crossed out. Every decision you make gets “reconsidered”. You’re not just delivering results, you’re constantly reworking and defending your approach, because someone above you can’t stop correcting and has forgotten the difference between leadership and control.

It feels like erosion. Not of your competence, but of your trust. When someone rewrites or redoes your work, they’re not protecting quality, they’re signaling, over and over: I don’t trust the very people I hired to do the job.

What you're experiencing isn't leadership development. Rather, it's leadership failure disguised as "high standards."

The next time your micromanaging boss asks for a “quick check-in,” it might feel more like a hassle than actual interest. Frequent, unnecessary revisions can hinder progress, undermine confidence, and hurting the trust essential for a strong team dynamic. If it keeps happening, it can leave you drained and impact your leadership.