How do you deal with micromanagers?

[MajesticUnicorn]

Hey all, just looking for some professional advice here.

 

I started a new job last November, and I really do love it. I get to do something that I am passionate about, and something I believe I am really good at. While it has been pretty stressful at times, I am happy here, for the most part.

 

When I started my job, I was reporting to a director position. However, around April, it was decided that there was a need for a management position within our team because there was so many of us reporting to our director, who is quite busy and has a lot on her plate as is. We interviewed several candidates externally for it, but none of them seemed to work out.

 

Eventually, it was decided that one of my coworkers would interview for the position, and we all agreed that she would be a great fit for the position. I still do think this, and believe that she is great at what she does and well-suited for the job.

 

I am one of the employees on my team that now reports to her. While it is nice to have more attention than I got from my old supervisor, I am really feeling the weight of what feels like micromanagement. She is constantly checking in with me on every project, no other departments can communicate with me unless going through her first, and it honestly feels like she doesn't trust me to do my job at all.

 

I know that I have room for improvement as well. But I've never missed a deadline, during my 6 month performance review, I received really great feedback. I've worked closely with my director and members of our senior leadership team, including the president, who have all praised me for the work that I am doing and the time and effort I am putting into my projects. I suppose I say all of this not to toot my own horn, but because I am competent at my job and it sucks to feel like I now have to have my hand held constantly.

 

I feel like this situation is stunting my growth as a professional. Rather than moving forward in my career, it's now almost like I have a babysitter watching my every move. At the beginning of my job, I was able to get to know people form other departments, get to know them, work with them, and make myself known in the organization.

 

I know this could come off as me sounding whiny and jealous, but I swear that's not the case. I'm just feeling frustrated.

 

I don't know what to do at this point. I have continued to try to kill her with kindness and do my job well so that I can keep gaining trust with her. But it's getting to the point where it's stressing me out at work constantly having her checking on me and asking me to do things I've already done. I do have another performance review coming up in which I provide any feedback to her as well, but I am worried to bring it up. From what I have read online about dealing with micromanagers, it's that it's best not to call it to their attention..

 

So I'm a bit lost, and would love to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation before.

[preraph]

I think my management style probably made some people think I was a micromanager when all I was trying to do is make sure they knew what they were supposed to be doing and my preferred way of them doing it. I wanted nothing more than for them to take the wheel but I wanted to be sure what they were doing reflected my training or supervision. I think you should just let her do her thing for a while and then if she doesn't let you take the reins, maybe have a light casual talk with her where you tell her that you've always done a little bit better when you're a little more autonomous or suggest ways that are alternative to what she does that accomplish the same thing that you are more comfortable with. But first give her a chance to get confident with you.

[MajesticUnicorn]

I think my management style probably made some people think I was a micromanager when all I was trying to do is make sure they knew what they were supposed to be doing and my preferred way of them doing it. I wanted nothing more than for them to take the wheel but I wanted to be sure what they were doing reflected my training or supervision. I think you should just let her do her thing for a while and then if she doesn't let you take the reins, maybe have a light casual talk with her where you tell her that you've always done a little bit better when you're a little more autonomous or suggest ways that are alternative to what she does that accomplish the same thing that you are more comfortable with. But first give her a chance to get confident with you.

 

Thank you for the advice. It has been 4 months of this but I’ll continue to respect her and give her a chance. I totally get her wanting to make sure I’m getting my job done, but we have weekly meetings to go over everything each week. And a weekly team meeting as well. Of course things come up and I understand her assigning me projects outside of our meetings. But it’s every single day she is reminding me to do things I’ve already done or am already working on. I am trying my best to keep a positive attitude, it’s just making me feel like I’m setting my career back several years.

[Rockdad]

I am trying my best to keep a positive attitude, it’s just making me feel like I’m setting my career back several years.

 

 

I agree with what has been suggested to you and give it a while. It is very good of you to stay the course of a good attitude try not to be so dramatic with yourself as it's been 4 months. If you work an avg of 5 days a week that is only 80 work days. You may be projecting that this is the way it's going to be and it will set your career back is why you feel that way.

 

 

 

Keep pressing your good attitude I seriously doubt it will always be this way as things change just as they did that started all this. In time she may begin to catch on everytime she ask you about something you already have completed it or your already on it. Someone else in the dept may catch her attention and distract her away from you. Keep strong and doing the good job with a good attitude like your doing.

[preraph]

Thank you for the advice. It has been 4 months of this but I’ll continue to respect her and give her a chance. I totally get her wanting to make sure I’m getting my job done, but we have weekly meetings to go over everything each week. And a weekly team meeting as well. Of course things come up and I understand her assigning me projects outside of our meetings. But it’s every single day she is reminding me to do things I’ve already done or am already working on. I am trying my best to keep a positive attitude, it’s just making me feel like I’m setting my career back several years.

 

Well here's an idea. If she's constantly checking with you to see something has gotten done, why not simply beat her to it and at the end of a day send a quick email saying, Just to keep you up-to-date, I finished that project I've been working on and started working on the next one. I touched base with company x y and z and expect an order soon, blah blah. Tomorrow I'm starting on audits and will let you know how that goes.

[OatsAndHall]

I would giver her some time to settle into her knew role. Often times, new managers feel that they aren't doing their job if they aren't trying to stay on top of every little detail. At some point, you would hope that she'd realize that she's making more stress for herself by sitting on an employee that's doing their job.

 

 

 

Preraph hit the nail on the head; start sending her updates via email if she continues to micromanage. This has always worked for me and kept these kinds of managers out of of my hair.

 

 

 

My last superintendent never was pretty laid back and let me do my job as a teacher. But, he was a serious micromanager when it came to my athletic director position. He was continually calling my classroom while I was trying to teach over athletic related issues. So, I started to CC him on EVERYTHING athletic related; stuff ranging from a detailed sports schedule all the way down to who was taking tickets at a game. He pretty much left me alone after that.

[mortensorchid]

I have encountered a few horrible micromanagers in my day. One was a complete and total b**** - always telling on people, confronting them, checking up on things, etc. The other? Well, she was a sick person, truly. She was building up a web of paranoia, turning people against each other from upper management to the janitor. She was not above horror story after horror story far too long to get into here. Why did either of them do what they did? For power and control.

 

How to deal? Accept certain things that you can't change, watch your back and your mouth, and mind your own business.

[Amy1992]

She is constantly checking in with me on every project, no other departments can communicate with me unless going through her first, and it honestly feels like she doesn't trust me to do my job at all.

 

I know that I have room for improvement as well. But I've never missed a deadline, during my 6 month performance review, I received really great feedback. I've worked closely with my director and members of our senior leadership team, including the president, who have all praised me for the work that I am doing and the time and effort I am putting into my projects. I suppose I say all of this not to toot my own horn, but because I am competent at my job and it sucks to feel like I now have to have my hand held constantly.

 

I feel like this situation is stunting my growth as a professional....

 

So I'm a bit lost, and would love to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation before.

 

My boss can be a micro-manager, and it lasted for a good while. Hate to say this, but it wasn't until about 14 months after I'd started that she really started to ease off. I've been there for several years now. I enjoy my job and I more or less have a free rein. We did talk about her micromanaging approach, once I saw an opportunity to raise it...but obviously I didn't use the word "micro-managing" as that's bound to put a boss on the defensive. She has a fairly controlling personality, but again - using the word "controlling" isn't the way to develop a good relationship with a boss as you've already touched on in your post.

 

if you can develop the sort of relationship where you have a bit of banter with the boss, sometimes it's possible to negotiate these sensitive areas in a good humoured way. It depends on their personality type though. Our boss is as tough as old boots. She's one of those women who generally prefers the company of men, and is quite like a man herself. She's blunt, domineering and doesn't pull her punches at all. I found that nightmarish to deal with at first, but as time went by and I built up more confidence in dealing with her I started to find her bluntness funny and enjoyable to deal with. She's certainly a character.

 

My general sense about your post is that your manager is maybe more of a neurotic disposition. A neurotic micro-manager is tough going to deal with, I think, because in all honest there isn't very much that's enjoyable about dealing with people like that...unless they have a well concealed sense of humour that can be drawn out (I equate sense of humour with people having an ability to brutally and humorously face up to their own less appealing aspects as well as other people's).

 

Generally I think you have to figure out whether you trust and respect your boss. If you do, then it's a lot easier to develop the patience and tolerance you have to have in order to put up with a micro-manager. If you respect a boss then even if they're a difficult personality, over time I think you're likely to develop a good, productive relationship in which they can overcome their trust issues (assuming micro-management stems essentially from having difficulty trusting others to do their job properly).

 

A micro-manager is definitely hard to deal with, but it sounds like you're really on the right track by feeling empathy towards your boss. That you feel that way also suggests that you aren't taking this personally, and don't feel dislike for her. Given the level you're at, you sound professionally accomplished. You wouldn't have got to that place without having good people skills and good instincts. So if you think your manager is basically a good person who just has trouble trusting people, and if you continue doing the things you've been doing, I think it's inevitable that things will improve. Perhaps just not as quickly as you'd like.

[SevenCity]

Micro managers are the worst, most insecure type of bosses you can have. It’s the sure sign that someone is not ready to be a manager or has little to no training doing so. It’s basically their insecurity manifesting.

 

What I found has helped me in the past is to completely overload them with information and updates. Under the guise of keeping them up to date, setup meetings to discuss statuses, send them emails with updates, stop them when they walk by.

 

As a manager, you have to spread your time evenly among employees and focus on those who need more guidance. By overloading them with info it causes them to back off while also realizing they don’t have the bandwidth to do everything and know everything.

 

The great thing about this approach is you are giving them exactly what they want. But instead of providing a glass of water to someone who is thirsty, you give them a fire hose.

[Pastypop]

I worked for one who was absolutely crazy. The worse he got the more I dug in. I finally went to Glassdoor and wrote a review detailing all his harassment. I got moved to another project a few hours after he threatened to fire me for taking a vacation. Assuming it was because of the review. I quit as soon as I found another job. Took me 8 months to get out of that mess. I would probably be in a better place if I hadn’t taken that horrible job. I made point to never show respect to that guy, nor even show any concern or care for the job. It made him nuts. Behind the scenes, I had to go to conseling and stay high on anti-depressants to get through it. I never spoke to management or HR about him but I did sure talk about him being a nutty, creeper to everyone else. Made darn sure I hurt his reputation and embarrassed him before I quit.