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279. You Can’t Coach This Out of Leaders (Micromanagement) · The Kathie Owen Perspective Podcast

• 0:00
  Kathie (2): Here's the part most executives miss.
• 0:02
  Kathie (2): You don't see it directly.
• 0:04
  Kathie (2): You actually feel it.
• 0:06
  Kathie (2): Something is off.
• 0:08
  Kathie (2): Execution feels heavy.
• 0:10
  Kathie (2): Decisions take longer than they should.
• 0:12
  Kathie (2): Your team doesn't quite operate at the level you expect.
• 0:17
  Kathie (2): But you can't pinpoint it because this is happening in spaces that you, the founder, the CEO or C-suite executive, you're not in these spaces.
• 0:30
  Kathie (2): And this is where it becomes a business issue, not just culture.
• 0:36
  Kathie (2): This impacts trust.
• 0:38
  Kathie (2): It impacts decision quality.
• 0:41
  Kathie (2): It impacts retention of top talent and it impacts the speed of execution.
• 0:48
  Kathie (2): And ultimately your enterprise value.
• 0:52
  Kathie (2): That's why I say I do human diligence because if you ever plan to sell your business, I guarantee you this shows up.
• 1:02
  Kathie (2): Not always in spreadsheets first either.
• 1:05
  Kathie (2): But in how the company actually operates.
• 1:09
  Kathie (2): And guess what?
• 1:10
  Kathie (2): Buyers feel it.
• 1:12
  Kathie (2): Employees reflect it, and customers experience it.
• 1:18
  Kathie (2): And if You've recently gone through a merger, an acquisition, or a period of rapid growth and something in your company feels off, but you can't explain it.
• 1:28
  Kathie (2): There's a high probability you're not looking at a strategy problem.
• 1:33
  Kathie (2): You're looking at a human pattern under pressure, and one of the clearest signals of that pattern is micromanagement or leadership behavior that quietly erodes trust.
• 1:49
  Kathie (2): Welcome to the Kathie Owen Perspective.
• 1:51
  Kathie (2): My name is Kathie Owen.
• 1:53
  Kathie (2): I work inside founder led and private equity backed companies, especially during high pressure transitions like mergers, acquisitions, and scaling.
• 2:03
  Kathie (2): I don't coach behavior.
• 2:05
  Kathie (2): I observe and interact with what's actually happening inside your company.
• 2:11
  Kathie (2): And I get asked this question all the time, how do we fix the micromanager, Kathie?
• 2:19
  Kathie (2): Can we coach them to calm down?
• 2:22
  Kathie (2): Well, there is a direct answer, and that is no.
• 2:26
  Kathie (2): Because they are not the problem.
• 2:29
  Kathie (2): They're just the signal.
• 2:31
  Kathie (2): I had a leader once tell me,"If it was up to me, you wouldn't be here." Imagine how that made me feel.
• 2:39
  Kathie (2): That's not feedback, that's destabilizing behavior, and it didn't exist in isolation.
• 2:47
  Kathie (2): It showed up across the entire organization.
• 2:51
  Kathie (2): It showed up as leaders using position instead of presence.
• 2:57
  Kathie (2): Authority without self-regulation.
• 3:00
  Kathie (2): What looked like leadership was actually insecurity under pressure.
• 3:06
  Kathie (2): And it's spread, not just top down, it's spread across teams.
• 3:12
  Kathie (2): It's spread across peers.
• 3:14
  Kathie (2): That's when you know you're not dealing with an individual, you're looking at a pattern.
• 3:20
  Kathie (2): Micromanagement is one version of that pattern.
• 3:24
  Kathie (2): It happens when someone cannot tolerate uncertainty.
• 3:29
  Kathie (2): And uncertainty is going to happen.
• 3:32
  Kathie (2): It's not if it's going to happen, it is when.
• 3:37
  Kathie (2): So a micromanager will control, they check, they push for answers way too quickly.
• 3:44
  Kathie (2): Not because they're trying to damage the company, because they're trying to stabilize themselves.
• 3:50
  Kathie (2): I wanna repeat that.
• 3:52
  Kathie (2): 'cause it's really important.
• 3:53
  Kathie (2): It's because they are trying to stabilize themselves.
• 3:57
  Kathie (2): And this is exactly what accelerates during mergers, acquisitions, and even rapid growth because pressure increases.
• 4:08
  Kathie (2): And when pressure increases, unregulated behavior becomes visible fast.
• 4:15
  Kathie (2): Here's the part most executives miss.
• 4:18
  Kathie (2): You don't see it directly.
• 4:20
  Kathie (2): You actually feel it.
• 4:22
  Kathie (2): Something is off.
• 4:24
  Kathie (2): Execution feels heavy.
• 4:26
  Kathie (2): Decisions take longer than they should.
• 4:28
  Kathie (2): Your team doesn't quite operate at the level you expect.
• 4:33
  Kathie (2): But you can't pinpoint it because this is happening in spaces that you, the founder, the CEO or C-suite executive, you're not in these spaces.
• 4:46
  Kathie (2): And this is where it becomes a business issue, not just culture.
• 4:52
  Kathie (2): This impacts trust.
• 4:54
  Kathie (2): It impacts decision quality.
• 4:57
  Kathie (2): It impacts retention of top talent and it impacts the speed of execution.
• 5:04
  Kathie (2): And ultimately your enterprise value.
• 5:08
  Kathie (2): That's why I say I do human diligence because if you ever plan to sell your business, I guarantee you this shows up.
• 5:18
  Kathie (2): Not always in spreadsheets first either.
• 5:21
  Kathie (2): But in how the company actually operates.
• 5:25
  Kathie (2): And guess what?
• 5:26
  Kathie (2): Buyers feel it.
• 5:28
  Kathie (2): Employees reflect it, and customers experience it.
• 5:33
  Kathie (2): So when you ask, can we teach this person to calm down?
• 5:37
  Kathie (2): Because guess what, that is a frequently asked question of mine.
• 5:41
  Kathie (2): When somebody obviously notices it's a micromanager, can we teach them to stop micromanaging?
• 5:49
  Kathie (2): And the answer is no.
• 5:52
  Kathie (2): Because if the system stays the same, the behavior stays, you'll just get a more refined version of the same pattern, and oftentimes it gets a lot worse.
• 6:04
  Kathie (2): So this is where my work is different.
• 6:07
  Kathie (2): I don't come in with a program.
• 6:09
  Kathie (2): I don't run workshops.
• 6:11
  Kathie (2): I go inside the company and I observe and I interact.
• 6:17
  Kathie (2): I talk to your team.
• 6:19
  Kathie (2): I watch how decisions are made.
• 6:21
  Kathie (2): I identify where pressure is coming from and how it's moving through your organization, and oftentimes, I can usually see it within a few days.
• 6:34
  Kathie (2): Because these patterns are not hidden.
• 6:36
  Kathie (2): They're just not acknowledged.
• 6:40
  Kathie (2): But here's the reality.
• 6:42
  Kathie (2): Most companies can fix this, and they don't.
• 6:45
  Kathie (2): Not because they can't, because they don't want to see it.
• 6:51
  Kathie (2): And when that happens, you get lower psychological safety, increased distrust, and a loss of top talent, which is very expensive, much more expensive than addressing the pattern.
• 7:09
  Kathie (2): So if you're a CEO, a founder or part of a leadership team navigating through growth or a merger and acquisition and something feels off, which is what I'm frequently hired for because something feels off, that's exactly where I work.
• 7:27
  Kathie (2): I wrote a full blog post on this.
• 7:29
  Kathie (2): It goes deeper into these patterns and even includes a diagnostic you can use immediately.
• 7:36
  Kathie (2): You'll find that linked in the show notes and description below.
• 7:41
  Kathie (2): And if you're seeing this inside your company, let's talk.
• 7:45
  Kathie (2): I wanna hear from you because what people do under pressure, that's what determines your outcomes.
• 7:55
  Kathie (2): All right, that's your episode for today.
• 7:57
  Kathie (2): I trust that you found it helpful, and if you know someone who could benefit from this, please share it with them.
• 8:04
  Kathie (2): And I will see you next time on the Kathie Owen Perspective Podcast.