Here’s a script for how to talk to a team member about micromanagement (of course, adapt it appropriately):

“I’d like to discuss my involvement in [PROJECT NAME].

As you know from our work together thus far, my default management style is not to micromanage.

As you also know, this is a [high risk | high leverage | high priority] project for the company because [reasons].

So for this project, I am going to ask for your help in deviating from my default style.

And I proactively wanted to let you know that this is not accidental, it is very intentional.

Concretely, this means that for this project I will want to engage with you on a more frequent basis and a more detailed basis than you’ve typically seen me do.

I am so glad that you’re running this project. And to state the obvious, I wouldn’t have given you this project if I did not have confidence in your skills and your leadership ability.

However as a responsible leader of this team, it is very important that I help ensure that the direction of this project and the quality at which we deliver it, right to the pixel level, is as good as we all want it to be.

So that’s why you will see me come across as micromanaging for this project. And I want to tell you that’s a feature, not a bug.

But you can also rest assured that, at the right time, when this project is on the right track, and we both feel comfortable that it’s going to great, I will be the first to suggest that I step back from it and go back to my default mode.

Is that okay with you?”

Note: As with all such things, this only works when it is done sincerely, not performatively, and is backed by truth, not by sinister motives. The approach here is non-apologetic, not sugarcoating, stating things like they are, with empathy for the other person.

Understanding Micromanagement