Micromanage
verb
To control every small part of a situation, often causing problems.
He tends to micromanage every detail of his employees' work.
Often appears as...
- micromanage every detail
- micromanage the process
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
verb
To control every small part of a situation, often causing problems.
He tends to micromanage every detail of his employees' work.
Often appears as...
- micromanage every detail
- micromanage the process
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Implication
Implies distrust or lack of confidence in someone's ability to handle tasks.
The project failed because the manager micromanaged, showing no trust in the team.
Pro Tip 2/3Workplace Context
Often used in job environments where managers exercise excessive control over employees' tasks.
Our new supervisor won't delegate; she prefers to micromanage everything herself.
Pro Tip 3/3Emotional Stress
Can cause frustration and stress among those being overly supervised.
Staff turnover is high because the boss's micromanagement makes employees anxious.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Implication
Implies distrust or lack of confidence in someone's ability to handle tasks.
The project failed because the manager micromanaged, showing no trust in the team.
Pro Tip 2/3Workplace Context
Often used in job environments where managers exercise excessive control over employees' tasks.
Our new supervisor won't delegate; she prefers to micromanage everything herself.
Pro Tip 3/3Emotional Stress
Can cause frustration and stress among those being overly supervised.
Staff turnover is high because the boss's micromanagement makes employees anxious.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Implication
Implies distrust or lack of confidence in someone's ability to handle tasks.
The project failed because the manager micromanaged, showing no trust in the team.
Pro Tip 2/3Workplace Context
Often used in job environments where managers exercise excessive control over employees' tasks.
Our new supervisor won't delegate; she prefers to micromanage everything herself.
Pro Tip 3/3Emotional Stress
Can cause frustration and stress among those being overly supervised.
Staff turnover is high because the boss's micromanagement makes employees anxious.
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Video examples
Michael Levin: The...
is that by triggering eye-building subroutines in the physiological software of the body, you can very easily tell it to build a complex organ. And this is important for our biomedicine, because we don't know how to micromanage the construction of an eye. I think it's going to be a really long time
Video examples
The living tech we need...
I'm going to help you out a little. Yeah. The point of showing this is that when people start to go to Mars, they're not going to be able to keep calling in and be micromanaged the way people on a space station are. They're going to have to be independent. So even though they're up there,
Video examples
The strange story of the...
We teach whooping cranes to migrate south for the winter behind little ultra-light airplanes. We're out there feeding plague vaccine to ferrets. We monitor pygmy rabbits with drones. So we've gone from annihilating species to micromanaging the survival of a lot of species
Video examples
Anant Agarwal: Why...
we really cannot think about reengineering it, micromanaging it. We really have to completely reimagine it. It's like going from ox carts to the airplane. Even the infrastructure has to change. Everything has to change. We need to go from lectures on the blackboard
Video examples
How to Raise Successful...
unless the parent is protecting and preventing at every turn and hovering over every happening, and micromanaging every moment, and steering their kid towards some small subset of colleges and careers. When we raise kids this way, and I'll say we,
Video examples
Valerie Purdie-Greenaway:...
I think the first way that people traditionally think about anxiety is chronic anxiety. We are still in the midst of a pandemic. People are anxious. Some others might think of anxiety in terms of their personality, you know, their micromanagers,
Video examples
Rory Stewart: Time to...
is one billion dollars a year, you drown everything. It's not simply corruption and waste that you create; you essentially replace the priorities of the Afghan government, the elected Afghan government, with the micromanaging tendencies
Video examples
Stefon Harris: There are...
Well we're jazz musicians, so stereotypically we don't have a great relationship to finance. Anyway, I just wanted to sort of point out the way that we handle it. And the other dynamic of it is that we don't micromanage in jazz.
Video examples
The role of faith and...
but he's not a micromanager. He has sent us here as his change agents, and we must stop making excuses and using him. That means that if you're a teacher, go to school and give your students the best.
Video examples
Confessions of a...
What I'm really here to do today is talk to you about micromanagement and what I learned about micromanagement by being a micromanager over the last few years of my life.
Video examples
Michael Levin: The...
is that by triggering eye-building subroutines in the physiological software of the body, you can very easily tell it to build a complex organ. And this is important for our biomedicine, because we don't know how to micromanage the construction of an eye. I think it's going to be a really long time
Video examples
The living tech we need...
I'm going to help you out a little. Yeah. The point of showing this is that when people start to go to Mars, they're not going to be able to keep calling in and be micromanaged the way people on a space station are. They're going to have to be independent. So even though they're up there,
Video examples
The strange story of the...
We teach whooping cranes to migrate south for the winter behind little ultra-light airplanes. We're out there feeding plague vaccine to ferrets. We monitor pygmy rabbits with drones. So we've gone from annihilating species to micromanaging the survival of a lot of species
Video examples
Anant Agarwal: Why...
we really cannot think about reengineering it, micromanaging it. We really have to completely reimagine it. It's like going from ox carts to the airplane. Even the infrastructure has to change. Everything has to change. We need to go from lectures on the blackboard
Video examples
How to Raise Successful...
unless the parent is protecting and preventing at every turn and hovering over every happening, and micromanaging every moment, and steering their kid towards some small subset of colleges and careers. When we raise kids this way, and I'll say we,
Video examples
Valerie Purdie-Greenaway:...
I think the first way that people traditionally think about anxiety is chronic anxiety. We are still in the midst of a pandemic. People are anxious. Some others might think of anxiety in terms of their personality, you know, their micromanagers,
Video examples
Rory Stewart: Time to...
is one billion dollars a year, you drown everything. It's not simply corruption and waste that you create; you essentially replace the priorities of the Afghan government, the elected Afghan government, with the micromanaging tendencies
Video examples
Stefon Harris: There are...
Well we're jazz musicians, so stereotypically we don't have a great relationship to finance. Anyway, I just wanted to sort of point out the way that we handle it. And the other dynamic of it is that we don't micromanage in jazz.
Video examples
The role of faith and...
but he's not a micromanager. He has sent us here as his change agents, and we must stop making excuses and using him. That means that if you're a teacher, go to school and give your students the best.
Video examples
Confessions of a...
What I'm really here to do today is talk to you about micromanagement and what I learned about micromanagement by being a micromanager over the last few years of my life.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Mat Kearney
American Musician
I am a micromanager, and I love being involved in every detail of my life, but in the big picture, you realize how little control you have. 'Air I Breathe' is about those moments of surrender where you get to something that is bigger than you, and you don't have answers for it.
Quote examples
Jeanne Shaheen
American Politician
We know that the way to decrease unplanned pregnancies and abortions is to make birth control and family planning services accessible and affordable, not micromanage the type of medical information and reproductive health counseling that women around the world receive.
Quote examples
Ron Williams
American Businessman
The federal government should encourage rather than micromanage market reform in all 50 states. Since health care is local, private-sector innovation in conjunction with state-level reform of the individual and small-group markets is a better approach.
Quote examples
Kat Timpf
American Writer
Throughout his career, Bloomberg has repeatedly shown blatant disrespect for individual rights and civil liberties. The first thing that comes to mind is probably the way he tried to micromanage New Yorkers' food choices during his time as mayor.
Quote examples
James Murphy
American Musician
Even in the band I was in when I was a kid, I'd be telling everyone what to do. I'd be leaning over the drums, telling them to tune their guitars, micromanaging.
Quote examples
Jennifer Konner
American Director
It is very hard work, but I am a big believer in not micromanaging; I hire really, really talented people and trust them to do their jobs.
Quote examples
Adam Hamilton
American Clergyman
God's role in superintending our world and our lives is neither absentee landlord nor micromanager.
Quote examples
Helen Clark
New Zealander Statesman
Of course I have an opinion on many things but I don't micromanage.
Quote examples
Mark Parker
American Businessman
I'm not a micromanager. I don't believe in that.
Quote examples
Christine Quinn
American Politician
I have a tendency toward being a micromanager.
Quote examples
Mat Kearney
American Musician
I am a micromanager, and I love being involved in every detail of my life, but in the big picture, you realize how little control you have. 'Air I Breathe' is about those moments of surrender where you get to something that is bigger than you, and you don't have answers for it.
Quote examples
Jeanne Shaheen
American Politician
We know that the way to decrease unplanned pregnancies and abortions is to make birth control and family planning services accessible and affordable, not micromanage the type of medical information and reproductive health counseling that women around the world receive.
Quote examples
Ron Williams
American Businessman
The federal government should encourage rather than micromanage market reform in all 50 states. Since health care is local, private-sector innovation in conjunction with state-level reform of the individual and small-group markets is a better approach.
Quote examples
Kat Timpf
American Writer
Throughout his career, Bloomberg has repeatedly shown blatant disrespect for individual rights and civil liberties. The first thing that comes to mind is probably the way he tried to micromanage New Yorkers' food choices during his time as mayor.
Quote examples
James Murphy
American Musician
Even in the band I was in when I was a kid, I'd be telling everyone what to do. I'd be leaning over the drums, telling them to tune their guitars, micromanaging.
Quote examples
Jennifer Konner
American Director
It is very hard work, but I am a big believer in not micromanaging; I hire really, really talented people and trust them to do their jobs.
Quote examples
Adam Hamilton
American Clergyman
God's role in superintending our world and our lives is neither absentee landlord nor micromanager.
Quote examples
Helen Clark
New Zealander Statesman
Of course I have an opinion on many things but I don't micromanage.
Quote examples
Mark Parker
American Businessman
I'm not a micromanager. I don't believe in that.
Quote examples
Christine Quinn
American Politician
I have a tendency toward being a micromanager.
Example 1 of 10
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