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Is this Micromanaging?? How to deal?


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Well, here is the deal. I am working for a company that overall, is great (as far as what they preach, anyways). They are a corporate training company teaching management skills. However, my boss appears to micromanage EVERY single thing I do.

 

Examples:

* She read and printed many of my emails as examples of what to do/not to do.

* She scrutinizes every piece of work I do (and then writes harsh notes afterwards telling me not to do something that she never trained me to do/not to do)

* She gave me a performance review and though she keeps telling me she would never "let me go" she gave me a harshly critical 4-page written, 2.5 oral review that included feedback like the following:

1) "Did you graduate from college?" (which yes, I DID........)

2) "I could hire a part-time admin clerk to do what you are doing."

3) "You act like it's all about you."

4) "I don't think you're trying your best."

5) ect........

 

I tried not to take it personal at all, but I left work bawling. I have worked my a$$ off there and have not had more than one thank you (and the thank you just came tonight because I brought the boss's cat to the vet clinic).

 

I am not sure what to do. I go in on my days off, stay late (though I've been putting a limit to that since she told me, "it's not about the hours you put in." Her expectations are unbelievably high. She wanted me to edit/design a 50-page manual in 1 hour! And that's just one example.

 

I was hired on as a "project assistant" and yet, I am writing web content, managing projects, creating budgets, designing manuals, workbooks, writing ebooks, press releases, etc. and am only making what a receptionist makes.

 

Why am I staying you ask? Because I just want to commit and I'm so scared of going to another bad workplace. (I have now had 2 really overdemanding bosses in a row and I am up to HERE with being someone's dumping ground.)

 

How much is realistic to expect of an employee? Is negative feedback daily the norm?

 

And what are some tips of dealing with micromanaging bosses?

 

Thanks for listening......... I feel much better now!

 

PS I have tried to bring up my stress level with my boss but she didn't listen. She just went on about what is wrong with "my performance." (And they were all "miniscule" things (like for example creating a budget down to the 5-point decimal point!) but really, really grand in her eyes.)

 

HELLLLLLLLLLLLP.

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People like this are usually incorrigible. They will never accept that they're lousy at management. If I were you, I'd start looking for another job.

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slubberdegullion
Is negative feedback daily the norm?

Negative feedback is much easier than promoting a positive work environment, so unfortunately it's more the norm than the exception. In short, your supervisor is taking the lazy way out.

 

Outcast is right; start buffing up the resume. In the meantime, check out this: http://adminsupport.monster.com/articles/micro/

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Hey babelicious! I hear you on the micromanaging thing. Had one of those myself. Constantly checking up on our work, etc. The funny thing is things ran so much smoother when she wasn't there. On those rare occasions where she took time off, things got done, there were fewer problems. She created the problems she stressed out about.

 

In my experience, bosses like this are simply trying to tear you down because they realize you have more potential or ability then they have. They can't improve themselves so in order to make them look better they try and knock you down. If your boss didn't make you look bad other people might notice your abilities and before you know it you would be over your boss. They couldn't let that happen!:laugh:

 

There isn't much you can do to change them. You can either hope they get a different job or start looking yourself for a new job.

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curiousnycgirl

What you describe is completely unacceptable and certainly NOT the norm. Furthermore I would suggest that the critism she is laying on you are totally counterproductive. One of my many management mantras is that if it's not constructive it's just plain mean. Asking if you attended college is totally meaningless in that discussion - the question is bordering on abusive and serves absolutely no constructive purpose, IMHO.

 

The only thing I agree with in your post, that your boss said, is that it's not about the hours you put in. However that only works in the right context.

 

You have several options here - of course the easy one is to look for another job. But you've said you don't want to do that.

 

The second is to try to make things better where you are, in a professional manner. You don't say how long you've been with this company, nor how large an organization it is - so some of what I type my be erroneous.

 

Firstly I would ask for your job description. It sounds to me like you are being asked to do many things outside of your job - generally a position such as "project assistant" is entry level - meaning you are learning a new thing, etc. What you have described as some of your assignments seem to me to be beyond your scope at this level. Frankly I am a senior manager with many years of experience and I couldn't effectively edit/design a 50 page document in an hour. That is setting someone up for failure.

 

I would review the job description with her and outline what fits and what doesn't from the tasks she has been assigning you. As you've said she won't listen - so in that case I would document it all and bring it to HR. Sounds like you may need someone on your side here.

 

Of course if it's a little company without a full HR department, and without potential opportunities to move around - then I go back to your first option. Move on.

 

I'm not sure if everything I've written here is clear - since there is a lot to be said on this topic - and I am somewhat passionate about it (I mentor lots of folks throughout my company, in addition to managing a global group of almost 600 people) - so please do not hesitate to private message me if I can help clarify anything.

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Thank you so much everyone.

 

Curiousgirl, where to start? Well, put it this way, I'm fresh out of college and I was honest and up front with them to begin with about my skills and abilities. I am an excellent writer but unfortunately I am NOT an accounting person and do not have the experience of someone they are expecting, I suppose? But damn, I have tried!

 

The marketing coordinator has been there for 1.5 years and just takes and takes what she says and it seems to be working for my boss, but not for this poor girl (I have witnessed a few incidences).

 

I have been there just over 2 months. In my first week of working there, I had NO training and was expected to complete a series of 9 training manuals. I did the best I could. I have since designed/rewritten/edited another 10 manuals and upteen other things.

 

I agree on the Project Assistant title, there is no assisting anywhere in what I can see. Just "manage the projects we give you and then we'll come back and give you negative feedback."

 

Our "HR person" is my bosses best friend and let's just say the HR person is worse than my boss. She actually said to me, "for what we are paying you..." and "I thought you had more expertise when we hired you." In short, the HR person has told my boss to "fire this trainer" and my boss came back and told us "frontline staff" about it, even though they never fired her.

 

I have worked my buns off. Edited professionally, written very professionally and made use of every moment I have. It's still not "enough."

 

I am feeling depressed. My self-esteem (as far as work goes) is erroded on a daily basis.

 

Are there any good bosses out there these days? lol.

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There are good managers. Not millions, but there are good ones. It's not worth the grief you're getting to keep this job IMHO. Too many unsolvable big issues in management. Flee, girl.

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curiousnycgirl

Unfortunately I agree with Outcast, cut your losses and move on. The only thing you will ever learn from this experience is what NOT to do when you become a manager.

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I feel ya! I worked for a micromanager for 2 years... and can definitely relate to doing just about everything. I was working for a company that made me do everything from design, to copy to marketing, to product management, to technical support!! My boss would micromanage my work, but he was just a big dumb... well, you know. I was just out of college like you and was desperate for any job, and that's what I did.

 

At the end of my 2 year stint - I went out in a huge ball of fire, by emailing him (after he sensed my discontent, he kept asking me what's wrong) - and telling him he's a horrible manager and am looking for a new job. He was desperate to keep me, and ended up compromising... I wanted to move across country, and he let me continue working for him with an incoming income while I moved, which would had taken me months if not years to save up to move and to ensure i had money before i found a job.

 

But you know what... I got SOOO much experience from this job and I am working at an awesome job with an awesome boss that is complete opposite of my old boss. My boss is SOO considerate, that during our scheduled 1-on-1's he'll ask me "Do you still have time to catch up?" it's like... of course I do, it's our scheduled meeting of the week... but he asks, because he respects me.

 

My advice... is to find a new job. You don't need to be treated this way. You sound extremely capable. But if you can hold on, do it. Everyone's first job sucks. But it sounds like what you're doing will land you awesome opportunities in the future. And remember this... they need you. No matter what they say, and their criticisms, they need you, and they want you there, they just have some power complex that makes you think otherwise.

 

And when you do look for new opportunities and they ask you why you're looking for a new job, do NOT be afraid to tell them about your issues with your micromanaging boss. When I was looking for a job in my new city, lots of potential employers were very understanding. And yes, employers still gave me job offers even after I told them about my troubles with my old boss. If they're a good boss, they'll understand, and you don't want to find yourself in the same situation.

 

Anyways... just wanted to share how I was able to get through it, and you will too!! Good luck!

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I feel ya! I worked for a micromanager for 2 years... and can definitely relate to doing just about everything. I was working for a company that made me do everything from design, to copy to marketing, to product management, to technical support!! My boss would micromanage my work, but he was just a big dumb... well, you know. I was just out of college like you and was desperate for any job, and that's what I did.

 

At the end of my 2 year stint - I went out in a huge ball of fire, by emailing him (after he sensed my discontent, he kept asking me what's wrong) - and telling him he's a horrible manager and am looking for a new job. He was desperate to keep me, and ended up compromising... I wanted to move across country, and he let me continue working for him with an incoming income while I moved, which would had taken me months if not years to save up to move and to ensure i had money before i found a job.

 

But you know what... I got SOOO much experience from this job and I am working at an awesome job with an awesome boss that is complete opposite of my old boss. My boss is SOO considerate, that during our scheduled 1-on-1's he'll ask me "Do you still have time to catch up?" it's like... of course I do, it's our scheduled meeting of the week... but he asks, because he respects me.

 

My advice... is to find a new job. You don't need to be treated this way. You sound extremely capable. But if you can hold on, do it. Everyone's first job sucks. But it sounds like what you're doing will land you awesome opportunities in the future. And remember this... they need you. No matter what they say, and their criticisms, they need you, and they want you there, they just have some power complex that makes you think otherwise.

 

And when you do look for new opportunities and they ask you why you're looking for a new job, do NOT be afraid to tell them about your issues with your micromanaging boss. When I was looking for a job in my new city, lots of potential employers were very understanding. And yes, employers still gave me job offers even after I told them about my troubles with my old boss. If they're a good boss, they'll understand, and you don't want to find yourself in the same situation.

 

Anyways... just wanted to share how I was able to get through it, and you will too!! Good luck!

 

 

Wow!! Rackity!! Where to begin?!?! You know EXACTLY where I am coming from. Thank you so much!!

 

Your words are like cold (refreshing!) water on a desert-stricken stretch........ I know what you are saying is TRUE and right.

 

I keep comparing this experience to that of finding a great boyfriend. As my mom used to say, you have to kiss many frogs before you meet the prince. I feel just like you said, as though this is a primer for something awesome.

 

Your job sounds almost identical to mine. I, too, am doing technical support, accouts payable, editing, design and well...... you name it. On my resume this job will look fan-fu(king-tastic..... it's just somewhat daily torture to endure. When I "go with the flow" it's much better, easier and just plain more PEACEFUL. I can finally sleep at night. I am leaving ontime now (since I realize unpaid overtime is a waste of my efforts, lol).

 

What you said about them needing us is soooo true and really really helped me to see things in a different light. It's funny how when you feel so demoralized, it's easy to take it to heart and to feel like there's something wrong with your performance.

 

I know at the end of the day MONEY talks, but that is still a hard pill for me to swallow. Why can't we treat each other with kindness AND still get the job done???

 

Today, the marketing coordinator and I reviewed our staff meeting agenda (we are still waiting for our "meeting" and it was supposed to be on Monday). Basically, the ENTIRE agenda was about ALL the things we are doing wrong. There were even examples with names!!!! I could not believe that. It is one thing to point out mistakes individually, in private and quite another to point fingers during a meeting. But for the first time, I just shook my head and did NOT take it personal. I saw that it is not my issue. It's hers.

 

The most IRONIC part of all is that my boss teaches courses on leadership and living your "best" self. Doesn't she see what she is doing to us? She gave me a book/CD on Compassion and yet, she has very little compassion for us, it seems. Personally, she seems to but behind business doors, she becomes a different person. To me, business is NO excuse, you know?

 

It is out of hand but at least all of us realize it.

 

I sent my first two job applications out this morning before work and it felt sooo damn good. :)

 

 

Well anyways, thanks again Rackity. Would love to hear more about how you dealt with things. Any good books? Websites? Ect??

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SummerRae - I am so glad my post was helpful!

 

And you are absolutely right - do not go crazy trying to meet crazy demands. Sometimes you have to realize tomorrow is a new day and leave work for tomorrow.

 

You are also right about going with the flow. It's much easier than taking it personally. Just think of it as the way it is. It's their company or, they're the boss, if they don't think your opinions are worthy, then it's their loss. There was a period in which I basically stopped using my brain, and forced my boss to make decisions. He forced me to make a lot of decisions, I really was not experienced enough to make. And after I made them, he'd play devil's advocate... a little too much. And when he was forced to make these decisions, he kept asking me for my opinion. And I kept asking him "well, what do you wannt me to do, and I'll do it." This drove him crazy... because he didn't know what to do. He was an idiot, and he needed me to do his work for him.

 

Your meeting totally reminds me of a particular meeting I had. For one, my boss wanted to start having a weekly staff meeting, and he was like "how about 8:45 on Monday" and my coworker was like "umm, maybe we should do it a little later..." and so he was like... "okay, then how about 8:45 on Tuesday?" ... and yes, we start work at 9:00... he was totally doing it as a power-trip move. Anyways... at this meeting I had basically just launched this product on my own. I did almost all the work on it - I managed the development of the product, I designed and wrote the entire website, all the marketing etc etc... It had been out for 4 weeks... and revenue had doubled since the launch. At the meeting, my coworker was just talking about how I did such a great job at launching the site, and that results were great. He just goes "ah-huh, ah-huh" - not even listening to us. He says, "But where did we go wrong? Let's think of some ideas on how to ramp sales. Do you think we should change target audiences?" it was like "excuse me?!?!" I couldn't even say anything. no one said anything. my coworker finally said, "i don't think we did anything wrong." ... anyways, it goes on like this. The thing is that he'll never be happy.

 

Something that might be helpful is to ask your boss for goals. I guess your position might be a bit harder since you seem to do a lot of writing and editing which is all subjective. But if there are hard numbers that you can tie to it, it's a good way to show them how well you've been doing. (Not to mention, show yourself!) I told one of my new bosses' boss about the above story and he laughed and said "well, maybe he should had better defined your goals. Maybe he wanted you to triple or quadruple sales." And although he was joking, there is some truth in that.

 

To get through it, I did a lot of talking to my coworkers. They're the only ones who really understand. Other people, don't really understand the magnitude of suffering we endured. They always said, "oh come on, it can't be that bad." Support each other.

 

As far as books... Someone gave me a book as a gag present, and I started to read it, but then I got my new job, so I lost interest. But what I had read was good advice. It's called "How to Work for an Idiot" - here's a link for info:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1564147045/qid=1134534060/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4290888-0902260?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

 

I find it very funny that your company is about helping build leadership! You'd think it would be a great company to work for! Sounds like something out of a movie

 

Just some other friendly advice on looking for a job. I also found that a lot of companies were turned off by the fact that I did so much. They thought that because I did so much, I was unable to do one focused thing, really well. Pick and choose some of the tasks and projects to focus on in your resume. Maybe even cater a resume to highlight those tasks that overlap with the job description. Not to say that every company was turned off by it... some liked that I was able to handle all that despite so much thrown at me. I guess it depends on what you want to do. It's funny because my job now is very focused, but I kind of liked doing a little bit of this and that. :p

 

good luck!!

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People like this are usually incorrigible. They will never accept that they're lousy at management. If I were you, I'd start looking for another job.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with Outcast. I have worked for my fair share of these kinds of yattering sacks of air, and they are insufferable. Thankfully my bosses of late are pleasant, supportive, and secure in thier own abilities and positions.

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