How to Handle the Micro-Manager

 Twice in the last month I received calls, one from a coaching client and one from a law enforcement supervisor, who is also a friend.  Both calls started off the same way, “Hey, can I get your opinion on something? I'm not sure how to deal with my micromanaging boss and he’s driving me crazy.”  Sound familiar?

Have you ever worked for a supervisor who was all up in your business?  I'm not referring to your personal business.  I mean he wanted to know what you were working on every hour of the workday and wanted a weekly, or even daily, report that accounted for every activity you were engaged in.  What about the boss who feels the need to continually re-write your reports because they just weren't the way she would have written them?  It just drives you crazy, right?  They are your manager, but it feels more like they are there to babysit you.  Micro-manager!  You want to scream at them, "Stop micromanaging me and let me do my job!" What are you supposed to do? Well, the answer is not so simple. Maybe they are micromanaging you…and perhaps they are not.

So how do you know if you’re being micromanaged?  

The test is simple and can be answered in one question.  Are you competent in all areas of your job? If you are, your boss should not have to look over your shoulder, correcting everything you do.  What if you are competent in most areas of your job, but still learning and working on a couple of areas?  That is when a good boss, a good leader, should step in to help you develop those areas.  Training, coaching, and providing guidance are the words that come to mind in this situation. 

The problem often arises when your boss does not answer the competence question the same way you do. Usually, the scenario sounds like this.  You feel competent, but your boss does not see it that way.  We now have a perception problem where you think that you are being micromanaged.  Your boss, on the other hand, believes that you are not performing your duties to his expectations, so he has to be a little more "hands-on" with you. He does not see this as micromanaging. His opinion is quite the opposite. By being a little more "involved" with you, he is exercising good leadership, right?  So now what are you supposed to do?  I'm glad you asked. 

Self-Assessment

Whenever a leadership issue comes up, the mirror is the first place you want to look.  Conduct an honest self-assessment.  This can be difficult since we are all biased when it comes to assessing ourselves.  Seriously, even you, my dear reader, have a tendency to judge yourself by your intentions but to judge others by their actions.  With that in mind, give it a try.  What is your role in your organization?  What are your specific job duties?  If you lead a team how is the team performing?  Are there any specific metrics for measuring your performance? How is your performance measured? Is your performance satisfactory?  Review your most recent performance evaluation. Were there any suggestions for where you could improve?  If so, what progress have you made?

Try to recall any recent conversations that you’ve had with your supervisor.  What did she appear concerned about?  If you are lucky, she was clear about any gaps between her expectations and your performance.  If this is the case, did you address those performance gaps?  If not, is she still “on your case” about them?  If this is your scenario, go close the gap she told you about.  Not sure how to do so?  Go ask her for specifics so you are clear. 

Even if everything seemed to be peaches and cream, was there anything at all that could be construed as negative?  Most people are reluctant to point out problem areas.  If they do, many managers are taught to use the praise, criticize, praise formula.  Sometimes the praise is so easy to deliver the criticism is minimized to the point where you might miss it.  Sometimes it is forgotten about until the end of the conversation and sounds like, “Oh, yea, there is one tiny little thing I wanted to bring up, but it’s no big deal.” If you’ve heard something along these lines you need to pay extra attention.  This will be the part of the conversation your manager remembers telling you, “I told him he needed to improve.”  This will also be the part of the conversation your brain filters out and you barely remember.  It must not have been a big deal, the other 99% was all praise, right?

Wait a minute, hold the phone.  You conducted a self-assessment and found nothing wrong.  You have never, ever received any form of negative feedback? I mean you've received accolades, praise, and positive reinforcement.  Your last performance evaluation was great (as always), your numbers are above average, and your team has never seen better results?  Despite all of this, your boss is still breathing down your neck, asking for hourly updates, and telling you how to do your job. Now it is time to educate your boss. This can be tricky, so I'm going to save it for next week when I discuss leading up.

To be continued next week...

Thanks for reading my blog.  Please leave a comment below.  If you are interested, I’ll also send you a copy of my free report, The 7 Mistakes Most Leaders Make. Until next week, remember, soft skills lead to hard results.