From Micro-Management to Manager-Coach

As a human resources manager, I have often read or heard that employees leave their organization for better pay, more generous benefits, or new career opportunities.

These factors matter, of course.

But when we take the time to listen to people who leave, one reality comes up over and over again: they don’t always leave their company. They often (and unfortunately) leave their manager.

And this is probably one of the greatest paradoxes in the working world. Organizations invest heavily in their employer brand, onboarding process, benefits, and culture. Yet, the day-to-day experience of employees often comes down to a single group of people: managers.

Managers are not only responsible for team performance. They are also the primary drivers of retention… or resignation.

Leadership Is Not Exercised Over a Company

Simon Sinek sums up this idea perfectly:

“You manage a company, but you lead people.”

In a video I recently watched on Simon Sinek’s LinkedIn profile, this sentence seemed simple, but it completely changed how I view a manager’s role.

A dashboard does not doubt itself. A budget does not need reassurance. A timeline does not lack confidence. Humans do.

And that is precisely where leadership begins.

For a long time, organizations promoted their best technical experts to management positions. It made sense: if someone is excellent at their job, they will surely know how to lead a team to its destination.

Today, I realize it is not that simple.

Being an excellent professional does not automatically make you an excellent leader. Climbing the ladder or starting from the bottom does not guarantee that someone will be a good manager. They might be a good visionary or a strong general director, yet lack the leadership skills, listening abilities, and openness to new ideas that could propel them even further.

Technical skills remain essential, of course! They provide credibility and help understand ground-level realities, but they are no longer enough.

Organizations now look for managers who can listen, communicate, provide a sense of purpose, support change, and develop others. In short, people whose soft skills become a true performance lever.

Micro-Management: A False Impression of Control

Micro-management rarely stems from bad intentions. Often, it is driven by the desire for everything to be perfect.

So you fix every email. You take back a file without explanation. You check every detail. You double-check behind employees “just to be sure.”

In the moment, it feels like you are gaining in quality, but in reality, you are sending a completely different message: “I do not fully trust you.”

By trying to control everything, you progressively strip away autonomy, initiative, and trust. Employees stop proposing ideas. They wait for directives. They take fewer risks. They become demotivated, disengaged, and feel no longer useful, but used—a very important distinction.

And once in that mindset, why try something new if someone is going to redo the work anyway?

The result is paradoxical: the more a manager controls, the more dependent their team becomes.

The Manager-Coach Develops Rather Than Controls

Conversely, a manager-coach’s role is not to have all the answers. It is to help others find them. They do not seek to be indispensable; they seek to make their team autonomous. I had a former colleague who used to say: if employees are able to perform tasks without needing me, it means I have succeeded in teaching them how. He wanted to become dispensable! He was not afraid of losing his job because he knew how to propel and develop people to become even more high-performing, without ever telling them to be high-performing!

A manager’s role is not to create performance. It is to create the conditions in which performance naturally emerges.

I believe that rediscovering a coaching culture comes down to simple yet important actions:

• Explaining the “why” behind decisions
• Asking questions before providing a solution
• Listening to silences and “I don’t knows”
• Offering feedback that fosters growth rather than simply correcting
• Accepting that people also learn from their mistakes
• Recognizing successes just as much as learning opportunities
• Acknowledging improvements that have been made

Sometimes, a manager has a goal in mind, and it is never enough. But you must also know how to recognize progress and proposed improvements, because there will always be things to improve. So if efforts are never recognized, employees can become demotivated.

A good manager solves problems. An excellent manager develops people capable of solving the next ones.

Inspiring Leadership: Inspiring the Desire to Contribute

Supporting people is not enough. Employees also want to understand why their work matters.

An inspiring leader does not motivate solely with quarterly goals or performance indicators. They are able to connect daily work to a larger vision. They help everyone understand the contribution they make.

Why is this project important? How does it improve customers’ lives? How does it contribute to the organization’s mission?

When employees understand the meaning of what they do, they no longer work just to complete tasks. They work to advance something they believe in.

And that difference is immense.

An inspiring vision is not a slogan posted in a conference room. It is a clear direction. An ambition that goes beyond financial results. A story in which employees can recognize themselves and want to play a role.

The best leaders do not create followers. They inspire others to become leaders themselves.

The Unspoken: Teams’ True Enemies

We often talk about conflicts. Yet organizations suffer far more from conversations that never take place. Expectations that were never clarified. Frustrations kept to oneself. Feedback that is postponed out of fear of creating discomfort. Employees who say “everything is fine” when they are already mentally checked out. The unspoken is silent. But its consequences are very real.

It weakens trust, fuels interpretations, and ultimately deteriorates the work environment.

Conversely, the strongest teams are not those where disagreements never happen. They are those where it is possible to have difficult conversations with respect, transparency, and kindness. I once heard a former boss say, “Yes, but I have 25 years of experience, I know this!” to shut down a disagreement. It had its effect. However, it did not allow me to discuss the best possible ways to reach your goal.

I did not disagree with him, and I did not question his skills or his vision, which I respected. However, I did question how we were getting to that goal.

Yet the worst part was him. Because he had a great opportunity to listen to what employees had to say. And yet, several of us thought the same way. But his leadership was based on control, fear, and ego. We never knew if we were going to say the wrong thing and lose our job.

You can understand why I didn’t stay! For that and many other reasons!

A Single Person Can Change a Team Climate

I generally agree with the saying that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. In management, this image is unfortunately very real. I have seen a single manager cause at least four people to leave. That is sad! Because those people were good.

A single manager who excessively controls, avoids difficult conversations, or distrusts their team can quickly affect the engagement of multiple people. Conversely, an inspiring leader can transform an entire culture. They create an environment where people learn, dare to try, and feel they are growing.

And when employees feel they are progressing, being listened to, and contributing to something greater than themselves, they develop a sense of belonging that few benefits can replace.

Tomorrow’s Leadership Will Be Deeply Human

We will continue to invest in technology, artificial intelligence, and automation. We will also continue to look for competent experts, of course!

Yet the more the working world evolves, the more one truth becomes obvious to me. High-performing organizations will not only be those with the best products or processes. Yes, of course, an excellent strategy, a good product, and experienced employees are crucial elements. But I also think that to have a good strategy, a good product, and develop our competent employees, leaders must adopt postures of openness, listening, and empathy—all while tracking KPIs and establishing a clear vision. The two go hand in hand, in my opinion.

Leaders who offer trust rather than controlling everything, who replace ready-made answers with avenues for reflection, who transcend a vision rather than giving directives. Because in the end, employees are not just looking for a job. They are looking for a place where they can grow, where their opinion matters, where their ideas are heard, and where changing direction is sometimes the best idea.