Why Do Bosses Say “Keep Me Posted” And Then Follow Up Constantly?

The phenomenon of "keep me posted" is very common in many organizations in the United States. Employees are told by their managers that they should keep them updated about work.

However, what happens next is that the managers keep following up on employees, making it seem like they do not trust them. Such a phenomenon reveals a trend that exists in most of our workplaces wherein the manager, on one hand, verbally grants us independence, but on the other hand, keeps tight reins on our work.

The pattern of micromanagement

Such behavior is regarded as micromanaging since it refers to the desire of managers to have detailed knowledge about what was delegated. The problem occurs when managers start making too many unnecessary requests regarding the task progress, which can negatively affect their relations with employees.


Innovative Human Capital states that such micromanagement can emerge from managers' “hidden beliefs,” which make them retain control over the results even when it comes to empowering their subordinates. Thus, managers can communicate with employees in order to achieve positive results without letting them know what is expected of them.

Therefore, such communication makes people feel uncertain because there are mixed messages provided to them.

The psychology behind constant check-ins

According to the experts, micromanagement may not be an intentional act most of the time because it comes from a psychological need that involves such traits as perfectionism, need for certainty, and inability to trust other people's ability to perform their tasks without supervision.

According to the same analysis from Innovative Human Capital, all these behaviors emanate from unconscious assumptions about responsibility and performance. In other words, while managers may think they are acting in ways they should, employees may view these actions in a totally different light.

That is where the difficulty lies in dealing with this kind of issue.

The impact on employee well-being

For the employees, continuous monitoring makes them feel like they are being watched and results in stress and less confidence in their capability to work alone. Gradually, such conditions can make people demotivated towards performing the simplest tasks.

According to OpenUp, when an employee faces micromanagement, he experiences anxiety and dissatisfaction with his job due to the loss of autonomy (source: openup.com). Employees start to feel that any move on their part would be observed; thus, they refrain from making decisions alone.

In this way, the overall work environment starts to change for the worse.

Effects on learning and growth

It must be emphasized that micromanaging does not just impact day-to-day activities but has long-term effects on the development of professionals. The fact that workers cannot make their own decisions and learn from errors restricts their possibilities in terms of professional development.

For example, according to research conducted by BMC Medical Education, micromanagement may negatively affect the process of skill development since people will not be provided with necessary opportunities to think critically and solve problems on their own. In addition, it is important to mention that it is true that professions require a creative and analytical approach.

Constant supervision does not encourage development but rather leads to dependence.

A cycle that affects managers too

While the effect of micromanagement on employees is substantial, managers do suffer too in their own right. The requirement to maintain a continuous involvement in everything can cause considerable stress and lead to burnout as a result of managers feeling a sense of responsibility towards something that cannot be controlled by them.

As mentioned by Mental Floss, the act of micromanaging itself could become a source of chronic stress that would negatively affect the health of a manager, since there is always a desire for control involved.

Such an effect will then create another vicious circle of stress, resulting in a desire to gain more control, leading to increased stress once again.

Why does this pattern continue

Regardless of the potential negative consequences, this type of behavior continues to thrive since it typically arises from a sense of intent as opposed to a lack of awareness on the part of the management in question.

Having insight into the psychology behind this problem will help us understand why the phrase "keep me posted" holds more significance than we realize, since it involves more than just communication problems.

On the one hand, this knowledge could be helpful to the employees in clarifying their understanding of the situation.

On the other hand, it presents an interesting possibility for the managers involved.