Why Your Team Feels Second-Guessed (and How to Fix It)

Micromanagement gets a bad rap — for a good reason. It frustrates teams, erodes trust, and slows down results.

But here’s what most leaders don’t talk about: micromanagement is rarely a personality flaw. 

More often, it’s a stress response.

When the stakes are high, deadlines tight, and visibility intense, even seasoned executives can fall into the trap of over-involvement. 

You tell yourself you’re delegating.

You assign projects. 

Roles are clear on paper. 

But then you step back in — “just to be sure.”

The result? The work is done, but your team feels second-guessed.

And you stay buried in the details instead of leading at the level your role demands.

When delegation isn’t really delegation

That was the pattern for Sarah, a long-tenured leader I worked with recently who had risen to an executive role reporting directly to the CEO.

Sarah was respected across the organization, with deep institutional knowledge and strong external relationships. But as her responsibilities expanded, she struggled to truly let go of the work she’d once mastered.

She believed she was delegating — assigning projects, setting expectations, and clarifying ownership. 

But in practice, she often re-did deliverables, rewrote documents, and stepped back into processes she thought she had handed off.

Her team wasn’t disengaged. 

They were hesitant — afraid to take risks when the leader they admired so often “fixed” their work. 

And Sarah? She found herself stuck in what she called the “$1 activities” instead of focusing on the “$100 activities” that would shape long-term strategy and succession.

Why micromanagement happens

Micromanagement often comes from good intentions: protecting quality, anticipating risk, or ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. 

But the unintended consequences are costly.

Your team’s sense of ownership slips away.

Their engagement fades. 

They stop taking initiative. 

And you stay trapped in the weeds, reinforcing the very stress response that started the cycle.

The good news? You can reset — without swinging to the opposite extreme of hands-off leadership.

Because, often, micromanagement isn’t about capability, it’s about confidence. 

In your team.

In your mission.

In yourself.

Three moves to break the cycle

Through coaching, Sarah made three key shifts:

1. Clarify boundaries. She mapped out exactly where she needed to stay involved (high-stakes deliverables, sensitive external relationships) and where she could step back (project planning, draft development, day-to-day execution).

2. Re-contract ownership. Instead of simply “handing off” tasks, she created explicit agreements with her team: What will you own? How and when will you update me? What support do you need upfront? This gave her confidence while giving her team space to deliver.

3. Manage up, not just down. Sarah realized that part of her micromanagement came from being caught off guard by the CEO’s questions. To fix that, she established a rhythm of proactive updates—bringing stakeholders along with her thinking, so she wasn’t reacting under pressure.

The difference was immediate. 

Her team became more engaged, knowing exactly what they owned and how success would be measured.

Sarah freed herself to focus on peer alignment, strategy, and succession planning — the “$100 activities” only she could do.

And perhaps most importantly: she rebuilt trust. 

By stepping out of the weeds, she signaled to her team, “I believe in you.” 

And that belief became contagious.

If you’ve ever caught yourself rewriting a presentation “just to be safe,” or jumping back into a project you thought you delegated — pause and ask:

• Am I doing this to add value, or to soothe my own stress?

• What steps have I taken to clarify what ownership looks like?

• Where can I let my team take the lead, so I can focus on the work only I can do?

Micromanagement doesn’t mean you’ve failed as a leader. It’s a signal. A sign that it’s time to reset how you balance presence, trust, and strategic focus.

If this resonates, it might be time to audit where you might be holding on too tightly — and where you can let go.

And if you’d like support in making that shift stick, let’s talk. 

I help senior leaders reset their leadership presence so they can focus on the work that matters most.

Because leadership isn’t about doing it all. It’s about creating the conditions where your team—and you—can thrive.