Micromanaged, or managed closely for a reason?
Close supervision is not always micromanagement. Alison Green of Ask a Manager lists situations where working closely with someone is simply managing, among them a person new to the work, a project that matters a great deal, and results that are not coming (Ask a Manager). The trouble starts when the closeness has no stated reason and no end date.
This test scores twelve things you have experienced: how much of the how is yours, whether your work is rewritten or checked again, how much reporting the job asks of you, and whether anyone has told you why. You get a room score from 0 to 100, where higher is healthier, a reading of your situation, and a script for your next one on one.
It takes about four minutes and shows your result without an email. If you manage people yourself, say so on the next screen. Your reports could answer these same twelve about you.
Micromanaged or Managed: the micromanaging boss test
Someone who works with you sent you this test. It is the same twelve statements they answered, and nothing they entered came with the link. If you manage people, say so below and your result opens with the leader view first.
Am I micromanaged, or managed closely for a reason, and what do I say on Monday?
What you get
- Your score out of 100
- Which of the 4 results you land on
- Scores across Room, Trust Signals, Update Load and Reason
- Your strongest dimension and your gap, and where to start
This test describes how closely your work is supervised and whether that has a stated reason. It scores behaviours you have experienced, not a person, and it is not HR or legal advice.
This test describes how closely your work is supervised and whether that has a stated reason. It scores behaviours you have experienced, not a person, and it is not HR or legal advice.
Your next move
If you do not manage people
Your full result has a script for your next one on one and a three column rule: leave, stay and act, or stay and wait. In most readings the first move is the same: propose the update yourself, before it is asked for.
If you manage people
Your reports could answer these twelve statements about you. The management style quiz shows whether you lean Foreman or Gatekeeper, and the 360 lite asks your people directly. Close oversight with a reason and an end date is managing. Without them, it is habit.
Email me this result
Optional. Your score is already on screen. Enter your details and a copy of this result, your score, your level and your four dimension scores, is sent to you.
Done. Your result is on its way.
Related tools
The four results
Every completed run lands on one of these pages, with your own scores drawn from the link the tool gives you. Each one is readable without taking the tool.
- ManagedRoom and trust are healthy. This is managing, not micromanaging.
- Close for a ReasonWatched closely, for a stated reason. Hold it to its end date.
- WatchedUpdate load is tightest. Reporting costs more than the work.
- Boxed InRoom and trust are tightest. The how is not yours.
Signs of a micromanager, and when close oversight is legitimate
Search for the signs of a micromanager and most lists describe a feeling. These are the behaviours underneath it, and each one is an item in this test.
- The how is set for you. You are told which steps to take on work you have done many times.
- Work is rewritten, not returned. Your draft comes back changed, with no notes on what or why.
- Copying in. Your manager asks to be copied on messages you send to other people.
- Update load. You report more often than the work needs, and the same progress in more than one place.
Now the other side. Close oversight is legitimate for three reasons: you are new in the role, something recently went wrong, or the stakes on this work are unusually high. Each of those is a reason with an end. So the test is simple. If nobody has told you the reason, or nobody can say when the checking stops, the oversight has outlived its purpose. That is the conversation worth having, and it is easier to win than an argument about trust.
How this differs
Most micromanager quizzes online are yes or no lists that end in a verdict about your boss. This one is two sided on purpose. It asks whether the close supervision has a reason, because sometimes it does, and it says so when your answers point that way.
It scores behaviours you have experienced, never labels a person, shows the result first, and gives every result a second view for the reader who manages people. It is not a version of any psychological instrument. It is built by a leadership coaching firm, which is why half of every result is about how to lead without doing this.
What happens to your responses
Your score, your result and your dimension scores are shown on screen without an email address. An anonymous copy of the score and the dimension scores, with no name, email or free text, joins the aggregate statistics for this tool, which are published only when a cut has at least 30 completions. Email is optional. Only if you ask for the result by email is it written to your contact record, and only then. The full rules are on the methodology page.
Common questions
What are the signs of a micromanager?
In behaviour terms: you are told how to do work you already know how to do, your drafts are rewritten instead of returned with notes, your manager asks to be copied on what you send, and you report more often than the work needs. This test scores all four and asks whether anyone has given you a reason.
How do I deal with a micromanaging boss?
Make the update unnecessary. Propose a short written update at a set time, covering what is done, what is next and where you need a decision, and ask to try it for four weeks in place of the extra checks. For the how of the work, ask for the outcome and one checkpoint instead of the method.
Is close supervision ever legitimate?
Yes. There are three good reasons: you are new in the role, something recently went wrong, or the stakes are unusually high. Each one should come with a stated reason and a date or condition when it ends. This test has a reading for that case, Close for a Reason.
Will my manager see my answers?
No. Nothing you enter is sent to anyone. An anonymous copy of the scores, with no name, email or free text, joins the aggregate statistics. The send this test to your manager button copies a link to the blank test, never your answers.
Should I take this if I manage people?
Yes. Your reports could answer the same twelve statements about you. Take it about your own manager, then read the leader view on your result, which shows each reading from the manager's chair and how to give room without losing sight of the work.
Related tools
- Boss Pattern Test: what kind of boss do you have4 min. Is it my boss, and what do I do about it on Monday?
- Toxic Workplace Test: the place, the boss or the week4 min. Is it the place, the boss, or the week, and what exactly is missing?
- Management Style Quiz4 min. What is my management style, and what does it cost my team?
- 1:1 Meeting Builder and Score4 min. How do I run a one on one that is not a status update, and is mine any good?
- Blind Spot 360 Lite4 min. How does my team actually see me, and where is the gap?
- Leadership Style Quiz12 min. How you exercise authority.
The numbers behind this tool
Aggregate results are published at Micromanaging Statistics: Room, Trust and Stated Reasons once a cut reaches 30 completions, under the Workplace Reality Index methodology. It is part of the Workplace Reality Index, which is kept separate from the leader indexes. More free tools are at the tools shelf.