“Have you seen Mr. Thomas lately? He looks exhausted.” 

“Yeah, I heard he’s been pulling all-nighters trying to get this case done.”

“Poor guy. He should let us help him out.”

“I insisted on helping him with the research, but he had me redo it five times because he wasn’t satisfied. He ended up doing it himself–again.”

“I can relate. He was nitpicking every word of the contract draft I worked on and took over the task eventually. It’s as if he hired us for nothing.”

“Exactly. Even with trivial tasks, he still insists on approving everything first. It feels like he still doesn’t trust our expertise.”

Mr. Thomas sighed as he overheard the conversations between his junior associate and his paralegal. He was hiding behind the slightly opened door of their office, disheartened about what he heard. He had always prided himself on his attention to detail, but now he realized that his micromanaging ways were taking a toll on his team.

It started when Mr. Thomas decided to hire a junior associate and a paralegal to free up his time for strategic planning and growing his law firm. His journey to delegation started smoothly, his team members were eager to begin their tasks. However, as days passed, Mr. Thomas found himself consumed with overseeing every aspect of his team’s task–even the most trivial ones. He began offering unsolicited advice and corrections, even when their work was satisfactory. He hovered over them, scrutinizing their work until he eventually took over all the tasks he had assigned them.

Despite his intentions to delegate, he couldn’t shake the feeling of needing to control every detail, reflecting micromanagement.

As the deadline for the case drew near, cracks began to appear in Mr. Thomas’ facade of control. Legal documents were riddled with errors, critical deadlines were missed, and clients grew frustrated.

Is this scenario familiar to you? 

Micromanagement is actually very common in any workplace. A February 2023 study by Accountemps discovered that 59% of individuals have experienced micromanagement during their careers. Among those who have been subjected to micromanagement, 68% noted a decrease in morale, while 55% stated that it had negatively impacted their productivity.

The Micromanagement Trap

Some managers may be unaware of the effect of their behavior on others. They may genuinely believe that their approach is necessary for success. Many leaders are overconfident in how they impact employees. In fact, 74% of leaders feel they inspire staff, while only 27% of workers agree. This is an example of a micromanagement trap. 

Other micromanagers are conscious of their behavior but struggle to change due to deeply ingrained habits–another micromanagement trap.

Micromanagement traps come in different forms. 

Fear of failure, perfectionism, lack of trust, or maybe the perception that you’re just being detail-oriented. Intentional or unintentional, any reason that leads you to take on too much responsibility from your team becomes a trap that can stunt your firm’s growth.

How to Escape The Micromanagement Trap?

Mike Michalowicz, an angel investor, the creator of Profit First, owner of two new multi-million-dollar ventures, and author of eight known business books, including “Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself.” In this blog, we are going to discuss a portion of the said book and apply it in running a law firm.

To break away from micromanaging, let us first break down the various levels of involvement in managing through The Four D Mix. This will help you understand where to focus your time and responsibilities.

The Four D Mix

The Four D Mix, introduced by Mike Michalowicz, is a framework that categorizes the activities of entrepreneurs into four phases: Doing, Deciding, Delegating, and Designing. Each phase represents a different level of involvement and responsibility.

The Four D’s of Work:

• Doing
• Deciding
• Delegating; and
• Designing 

1. Doing

This is the phase when you do everything yourself, from the most trivial to the most significant task. This is where almost every startup begins, and where most of them get stuck–leading to micromanagement. This was most likely what happened to Mr. Thomas from our example earlier. He was stuck in the “doing” phase, continuously reverting to handling even the smallest tasks himself.

As stated earlier, there are lots of reasons why leaders fall under the micromanagement trap.

According to the Harvard Business Review, managers tend to micromanage for two primary reasons: First, they seek a stronger sense of connection with their team members. Second, they may find it more comfortable to engage in tasks they’re familiar with rather than overseeing employees who now handle those responsibilities.

Mark Murphy, a leadership expert and bestselling author, suggests a third reason: fear. The nature of this fear varies, but the primary concern driving leaders to micromanage is the desire of maintaining an image of expertise and authority. 

Moreover, based on the survey “Are You Motivated By Power Or Achievement?” taken by over 5,000 leaders,  41% of leaders harbor a strong inclination towards power. Having a desire for power isn’t entirely bad, sometimes it just means wanting authority to impact others, which can be beneficial if managed properly. However, for those craving power and recognition as experts, it can be unsettling when employees work independently that they seem to have no use for your expertise and authority. 

2. Deciding

This is the phase where you start assigning tasks to people but remain heavily involved in decision-making. This phase can result in a lack of autonomy among team members and a bottleneck in decision-making.

Most people confuse “Deciding” with “Delegating.” If you assign a task to someone else but need to answer questions to get the task done, you are not “Delegating,” you are “Deciding.” This was also one of the things that Mr. Thomas’ staff pointed out earlier.

This phase is frustrating, you’ll fall into the illusion that it’s easier and faster to finish tasks when you do them yourself, just like what Mr. Thomas did.

Flipping between “Doing” and “Deciding” is more common than you think. That’s why most businesses don’t ever get past one or two employees. Managers often cycle through phases of trying to do everything themselves, then realizing they need to hire help, only to become overwhelmed again and consider going back to doing it alone and getting frustrated, asking questions like “Why can’t they execute tasks my way?”

The thing is, they’re not supposed to do it exactly like you. They need to figure out the tasks themselves. Not giving employees the power to decide undermines their sense of accountability, making them feel less responsible. This can result in employees feeling undervalued, demotivated, and disengaged.

3. Delegation

This phase involves empowering your team to make decisions and shift the responsibility for decision-making from you to them. If they make mistakes, let them. This is the time when managers and employees will need significant support to get comfortable with failure which is essential for the team and the firm’s growth.

This is the most difficult phase, especially when every detail is already perfectly set in your mind. This is the ultimate challenge of Mr. Thomas–letting go of the illusion of perfection and getting comfortable with making mistakes.

Empower your team by thinking less of perfection. That way, you’ll have more mental space to think of things that truly matter for your firm. According to research by McKinsey and Company, a global management consulting firm, organizations whose leaders successfully empower others are nearly four times more likely to make good decisions than those whose leaders don’t.

However, successful empowerment doesn’t imply abandoning employees. It just means being involved without being controlling. Offer guidance and boundaries for decisions, ensure accountability, and then step back to let others take charge.

Imagine the impact if your team focused on delivering outcomes rather than completing tasks—it becomes transformative. Empowered employees are more engaged, work harder, and become more loyal to the firm. Their delegated decisions usually result in faster, better, and more efficiently executed outcomes.

4. Designing

As a lawyer-manager, your time is best spent “Designing” the work, not “Doing” the work. 

Designing involves strategic planning, where you focus on brainstorming the steps toward your firm’s vision. This process provides a comprehensive overview of your law firm’s performance, short-term prospects, and future outlook, enabling you to better guide your firm in the right direction.

A law firm is a business. According to Thomson Reuters, small law firm lawyers are increasingly realizing that they are, indeed, business owners, and in any business, strategic planning is crucial to ensure long-term success.

Conclusion

Mr. Thomas’s story highlights a big issue for managers: micromanagement. In running any business, especially a law firm where accuracy is everything, it can be a challenge to let go even the tiniest detail. Even though it might start with good intentions, micromanaging can hold back the team’s freedom and creativity, as well as the firm’s growth and progress. But there’s a solution: delegation.

To break free from the micromanagement trap, lawyers must transition from “doing” and “deciding” to “delegating.” This change allows managing lawyers to focus on “designing” the path toward achieving their vision for their firm.

References

• Mickensey & Company. (2020). “For smarter decisions, empower your employees.” Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/for-smarter-decisions-empower-your-employees
• Thomson Reuters. (2020). “Securing Your Practice’s Future: Why Law Firm Strategic Planning Matters for Small Law Firms.” Retrieved from: https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/legal/strategic-planning-small-law-firms/
• Tham, C. (2021). “Law Firm Strategic Planning: A Guide.” Retrieved from: https://clio.com/blog/law-firm-strategic-planning/
• Chandler, A. (2023). “7 signs you’re dealing with a micromanager (and how to manage them)” Retrieved from: https://www.breathehr.com/en-gb/blog/topic/health-and-wellbeing/8-signs-youre-dealing-with-a-micro-manager-and-how-to-manage-them
• Murphy, M. (2017). “The Secret Fear That Causes Bosses To Micromanage.” Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2017/03/12/the-secret-fear-that-causes-bosses-to-micromanage/