Parts 3 & 4 of the Diagnosing Toxic Leadership Series
“I do my job, but I’m not going above and beyond anymore, it’s not worth it.”
“I used to care deeply about the team and the work we do. But now, I’m just focused on getting through the day.”
These are the quiet voices of clients and coworkers who have mentally and emotionally checked out. They haven’t left the organization—but their motivation, creativity, and engagement have. This is the rise of the quiet quitter, and in many workplaces, it’s directly tied to micromanagement.
Micromanaging Fuels Employee Disengagement
At its core, micromanagement sends one loud message: You can’t be trusted to do the job the way I would. In part 2 of this series, I shared how this behavior impacts trust. Depending on the intensity and consistency of this behavior, over time, it also erodes motivation and morale, leaving high-potential team members questioning their value and impact on the organization. As control increases, trust decreases, and the emotional cost of feeling their contribution does not matter begins to take a toll on team members. This creates a variety of emotional triggers, such as frustration, depression, sadness, anger and stress (anxiety).
Low Morale: The Emotional Cost
Micromanaging leaders often believe they’re ensuring success. In reality, they chip away at their team’s energy, creativity and enthusiasm for solving problems. When teams are forced to do all of their work with the leader in the room, they rarely produce the best output. When every task is second-guessed, when decisions are reversed without explanation, and when feedback is filtered through anxiety rather than trust, morale begins to sink. A powerful quote from Stephen R. Covey states, “You can buy a person’s hand, but you can’t buy his heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is. You can buy his back, but you can’t buy his brain. That’s where his creativity is, his ingenuity, his resourcefulness.” Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.
Low morale looks like:
- Reduced initiative
- Passive compliance
- Disengagement in meetings
- Apathy toward outcomes
- High stress and emotional exhaustion
- Employees who once led projects and offered their discretionary energy begin to step back, choosing silence over suggestions.
Distorted and Disruptive Accountability
Micromanagers distort accountability by inserting themselves at every level, but never fully or genuinely own outcomes. They demand updates, override decisions, and then blame others when results falter. This confuses team boundaries and fosters a culture where no one feels safe owning anything. This behavior creates paralysis with decision making which brings the organization to a halt when the leader is not available. This behavior has a trickle-down effect on the entire organization.
The impacts of this behavior include:
- Conflicting skip level direction from leadership
- Blame-shifting when issues arise
- Fear of taking the initiative to get things done
- Avoidance of responsibility due to lack of control
The result is an environment where high performers quietly shut down, and underperformers hide behind ambiguity.
Psychology Behind These Behaviors
First, I want to share my standing disclaimer, “not every micromanager has a diagnosable personality disorder,” however, many display persistent traits that mirror clinical categories. Some of which I described in parts 1 & 2 of this series which address when micromanagement is chronic and unchecked. The clearest alignment is with personality disorders such as, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD), Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD). “In addition to the more obvious personality connections, many of my micromanaging clients describe experiencing intense anxiety from constantly feeling the need to keep all the plates spinning.” This often stems from the perceived need to attend every meeting or to schedule debriefs with staff whenever a scheduling conflict arises. They complain about not being able to take vacations that allow them to completely unplug. Many of these clients speak of calling into meetings while on PTO. These leaders often start early and stay late as well as working weekends and evenings. When this behavior is present at work, many report similar behaviors in their personal life.
These traits drive behaviors that derail healthy teams and personal relationships with direct reports, peers and family members. They create cultures where trust is scarce, autonomy is punished, and motivation slowly dies.
The Organizational Cost of Silence
Quiet quitting isn’t laziness, it’s self-preservation in a toxic system, as discussed in my book “Diagnosing Toxic Leadership” When employees don’t feel safe, heard, or trusted, they protect their jobs by withdrawing or as the old saying goes they “Go along to Get along”. In the short term, this looks like stability. In the long term, it looks like turnover, missed innovation, and talent drain on the organization while the employee is still showing up physically every day.
Leaders must learn that control does not equal perfect, as discussed in the book “Trust & Inspire” by Steven M.R. Covey. Trust, delegation, and clear accountability drives performance, and creates conditions where people choose to give their best. Not all leaders know how to work at the level they are assigned, which is why they find themselves working too deep in the organization. These strong learnings can be found in the book “Leadership Pipeline”. However, all is not loss, these leadership skills can be assessed, trained and practiced as part of a rigorous leadership development curriculum. Click here to schedule a free 30-minute discovery discussion regarding your team and leadership curriculum.
About Dr. Ollie G. Barnes III
Dr. Ollie G. Barnes III is an organizational performance consultant, keynote speaker, and author of Diagnosing Toxic Leadership: Understanding the Connection Between Personality Disorders and Toxic Leader Behaviors. As the founder of Impact Performance Consultants, he brings over 25 years of experience helping organizations transform workplace culture, improve leadership effectiveness, and build psychologically safe environments. Learn more at ImpactPerformanceConsultants.com