06/17/2025

How to Bring Your Helicopter Managers down to Earth

Their "helping" can become "hovering"

High-performing teams need support, not surveillance. But in today’s high-stakes, visibility-hungry workplaces, the line between the two can start to blur.

Managers are checking in constantly, reviewing work multiple times and hesitating to delegate. Well-meaning leaders are caught in a cycle of over-involvement that slows performance, creates tension and quietly erodes trust.

Owl Labs’ State of Hybrid Work report found that 46 percent of workers say their companies increased productivity tracking in the past year. At the same time, 89 percent of U.S. knowledge workers report rising workplace anxiety. When performance becomes harder to measure—and pressure to deliver stays high—managers default to what feels safe.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Betterworks.