Scale-ups are often described as the teenage stage of business life: high energy, rapid growth, unpredictable, and sometimes chaotic. Unlike corporates with established systems or startups with a scrappy “all-hands” culture, scale-ups sit awkwardly in between. This creates fertile ground for micromanagement.

There are three common reasons it shows up:

1. Founder’s mindset – Founders and early leaders are used to being hands-on. Letting go feels like losing control. In the early days, when the team is mostly junior or inexperienced, this level of oversight can feel necessary. The danger is when leaders don’t adapt — and continue the same behaviours even after hiring more experienced employees who expect trust and autonomy.
2. Pressure to perform – With investors and employees watching closely, leaders fear mistakes, so they hover.
3. Inexperience – Younger leaders or those promoted quickly may not yet have the skills to delegate and trust.

What begins as “attention to detail” can quickly spiral into disempowering oversight.

The Human Cost of Micromanagement

Micromanagement is not just a nuisance — it is deeply damaging in a scale-up context:

• It slows decision-making: Everything funnels through one person.
• It fuels burnout: Teams feel constantly monitored and distrusted.
• It kills innovation: Employees stop taking initiative if they expect their ideas to be shut down.
• It drives talent away: Smart people and independent thinkers, the very people scale-ups need to grow, quickly get frustrated and leave.
• It backfires on leaders: Micromanagers become bottlenecks and burn out themselves.

As I explain in How to Survive in a Scale-Up Business, “working for a micromanager can be a serious threat to your mental and physical health”.

A Real Example

Take “Paula,” a marketing leader in an e-commerce scale-up (a composite case from my research). Paula cared deeply about the business but checked on her team’s activity during their holidays, scrutinised their response times on Slack, and judged them daily as heroes or failures.

Her team learned to defer every decision upwards. Innovation dried up. Eventually, growth stalled, and Paula left the business.

Her intentions were good. But the outcome was toxic.

Navigating Micromanagement as an Employee

If you’re experiencing micromanagement, there are strategies that can help you navigate it without burning out:

1. Build trust through proactive communication – Share updates before being asked. Use trackers or short progress notes.
2. Set boundaries with non-violent communication (NVC) – A framework developed by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg, NVC encourages you to express observations, feelings, needs, and requests in a way that reduces defensiveness and builds understanding. For example:
   • Observation: “When you directed me on project X…”
   • Feeling: “…I felt discouraged.”
   • Need: “…because I need ownership.”
   • Request: “…Would it work if I present my plan first, then get your input?”
3. Frame ownership as a benefit – Position your independence as saving the manager’s time and improving results.
4. Know when to walk away – If your mental health suffers and nothing changes, no job is worth the cost.

How Leaders Can Break the Cycle

If you are a leader in a scale-up, breaking free from micromanagement is critical for scaling sustainably. Here are shifts I outline in my book:

1. Shift from tasks to outcomes – Ask “How are we progressing toward Y?” instead of “Have you done X?”
2. Really question how you spend your time – What are the decisions only you should be making? Where do you add unique value? And where should you step back, empower your team, and let them own the execution? This reflection is often the turning point from control to trust.
3. Evaluate performance by impact, not activity levels – Scale-ups need builders who can deliver meaningful results, not firefighters busy with constant activity.
4. Build structured check-ins – Weekly stand-ups, dashboards, or agreed reporting rhythms provide visibility without interference.
5. Get comfortable with mistakes – Rapid growth means errors will happen. Treat them as learning opportunities.
6. Delegate as a discipline – Leaders must consciously choose what only they can decide and let go of the rest.
7. Address insecurities – Often micromanagement masks fear of failure or inexperience. Self-awareness and coaching can be transformative.

As one CEO interviewee told me: “If you micromanage people, they wait to be micromanaged — and it’s a vicious circle”.

Creating a Culture that Rejects Micromanagement

Changing behaviour is not just an individual challenge; it’s a cultural one. Scale-ups must:

• Normalise feedback: Employees should feel safe to share when behaviours are stifling them.
• Value autonomy: Celebrate people who take initiative, not just those who “get approval.”
• Model trust: Leaders must demonstrate trust through words and actions, especially under pressure.
• Balance passion with perspective: Founders, in particular, must remember that while the business is their “baby,” employees are caretakers — not parents.

Final Thought

Micromanagement in scale-ups is a paradox. It comes from care, commitment, and a desire for success, yet it undermines all three.

To truly thrive, scale-ups need leaders who evolve as the business evolves. That means moving from control to trust, from tasks to outcomes, and from fear to growth.

So, ask yourself honestly: Are you spending your time scaling the business — or controlling the details? The answer to that question will determine not just your leadership legacy, but whether your scale-up grows or stalls.

Vidya Murali, author of How to Survive in a Scale-up Business, has been working in the UK’s leading tech businesses, including Amazon and high-growth scale-ups such as Deliveroo.