[goodpoint]

> I had to micromanage

And yet...

> The truth is probably that I should have gotten into more serious talks with those employees instead.

There you go. Very often employees are unproductive because they are unhappy.

> As an employee, try to be as a reflective person as you ask your boss to be one

It's the people-manager job to understand people. It's not the employee's job or skillset.

[halfmatthalfcat]

No, it’s a shared responsibility. It’s the managers job to set up someone for success not to make them successful. If a report is not responding to that, then it’s the report’s fault for either not applying themselves or just not a good culture fit for the org. Nothing wrong with the latter either, mind you. Some people just don’t work in the existing system.