Many books and online articles claim that people are a company’s greatest asset. How many times have you heard that? And how many times have you felt the exact opposite? I have, and the experience has been frustrating, but at the same time, I must admit, also educational. At this stage of my life, I learned what I do not want.
In the company where I worked, I saw firsthand how micromanagement can slow down processes, frustrate a team, and hinder growth. Even though the company had grown from a small team into a more complex organization, some patterns from its early days remained. Documents, decisions, and processes were under constant control, leaving very little room for autonomy or initiative.
When control goes hand in hand with ego, you get a system where mistakes are not acknowledged, responsibility is shifted, and the team bears the consequences. Culture becomes fragile, based on fear and distrust rather than collaboration and confidence.
For employees, this means constant uncertainty, slow processes, and frustration. Talented people leave because of stagnation and excessive control limit creativity and growth. Watching this happen to people I respect and value is truly painful.
I am someone who does not filter her thoughts. I feel that the connection between my brain and my words simply doesn’t exist when it comes to injustice or something that is clearly wrong. When I see something harming the team or the business, I feel responsible for addressing it. It’s not always popular, especially with owners who are micromanagers, but I cannot act otherwise. My responsibility was solely to the team and results, not to someone else’s ego.
Some processes improved over time, but changes were very slow. Attempting to create positive change in a system resistant to it often left me feeling like Don Quixote fighting windmills.
He fought imaginary obstacles, while my battle was against rigid systems, micromanagement, ego, and bottlenecks in processes. It led to frustration, helplessness, and a loss of meaning, prompting questions I kept asking myself: Why am I here? Why am I still staying? Every new departure of a colleague from the team was more painful and saddening than the last.
Team members often asked me where I found the energy, effort, and patience to keep trying for change. I learned to look at the bigger picture and see beyond the immediate situation. The owners were not bad people, they simply didn’t know any other way, and by nature, they were not inclined toward change. I understood that their control gave them a sense of security.
Family and friends began noticing my frustration with work and asked: “Why are you staying? Find another job.” But I hoped I could make a difference, that I could help micromanaging owners become aware, that eventually the “light bulb” would turn on, and that the departure of talented people would stop because the necessary changes would take place.
I should mention that in my fifties, I had managed to hold on to a spark of naivety that even a young woman in some parallel world, trapped in her own pink bubble, might envy.
Hope is both beautiful and cruel at the same time. On one hand, it keeps us going and encourages us to believe that change is possible. On the other hand, it keeps us stuck in a place that isn’t best for us and prevents us from moving forward.
In the end, I decided to leave, but I do not regret having had this experience. Working in such an environment teaches resilience and perspective. Even if you cannot control everything, you can focus on what you can influence. Protecting your team, improving processes as much as possible, and maintaining integrity are victories in themselves. They may not be big, but they have a far stronger and more lasting impact.
Have you ever worked in a company where micromanagement outweighs trust and autonomy? How did you cope with it?
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?”
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
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