Discussion on:

You might be a micromanager if. . .

The guy has never learned what it is to manage. He was given the position because no one else wanted it. Upper management is regretting it now. This article was written with him in mind. I wonder if the author knows him personally?!?!?
He also takes credit for other people's work and brings no added value to the technical discussion. The team is under-managed and under-sourced. This team is a mess.

I've been pretty lucky; in the past decade I've always worked for people who trusted me to do my job, and I try to extend that to the people that work for me. I like to tell newcomers that if I have to 'babysit' them, they're of no use to me. I expect my techs to know their jobs, and consult with me when there are really tricky technical or 'political' issues; otherwise, they should be able to work without a safety net. My job is to monitor their performance, and remove obstacles tothem getting their work done, not ell them how to do their jobs.

Hey Guys and Gals,
Some of you are missing the big picture just like the Manager you want to put on a spit and roast every so slowly! Yes, I have worked for the Marquee de Sade of Micro Management. He delt such management pain that It is impossible to understand how he couldn't have known he was doing it!!! SO in that lies your answer! Folks the answer lies in setting the right expectations for the project in the beginning and getting by in from everyone and MAINTAING GREAT COMMUNICATION throughout the project. Perhaps you could proceed in this fashion. In a team meeting perhaps one of you could say "everyone seems a little down or stressed at this point in the project(dept,group), let's elect a Morale officer!" Appoint this personno matter how much you struggle to do it. Then in each meeting get your 5 minutes, hopefully in the beginning so it sinks in throughout the meeting, and orfer sugesstions on how to improve moral! The suggestions will be ones clearly picked to soothe the particular pains and also to STEAR THE PROJECT INTO THE LIGHT. GO TO THE LIGHT MY CHILDREN! THERE IS SAFTY IN THE LIGHT! Look over your project management books and your heart and gut feelings and have the project group(dept)get together WITHOUT THE MANAGER INVOLVED and pick out solutions that can help in your situation(S) and have the morale officer present them in the meeting (Theory:Don't shoot the messenger!), get the manager to try a few of them. The manager can't falt you for your positive attitudes and S/he won't fire the whole department. S/He won't like all of them but keep trying! Modify accepted ones to make them work better, Things won't change in a day if they are that bad, but move bit by bit in the right direction. This is a way of teaching the manager to use some tools S/he doen't have!!

I've worked for many managers and business owners who couldn't leave well enough alone when it came to letting their employees do the work they were hired to do (supposedly because they were... DUH!... qualified to do it???).

However, I work for a company who's creator and co-owner is also my direct supervisor. And HIS vision is the ONLY vision.

His favorite term for someone who doesn't agree with him is "not like-minded"... and they're either booted out or cowed by his strong personality into submission. This has resulted in his being surrounded by small but vocal group of "yes-men" and a quiet majority of disaffected and unhappy employees.

Funny thing is, his VISION is awesome... and has drawn all of us into it... we WANT to see his dream come true, and work like slaves to make it happen. However, our lack of creative input and ability to impart our own "twist" to things has demoralized us all. Deviate slightly from his wishes, and the anvil crashes.

So my question, finally, is this: Any suggestions how to tell the co-founder of a mid-sized membership-based company with 70 employees and 12,000 members that he's a total twit when it comes to managing? Without losing my job, of course.

My main concernis that we all LOVE what the company stands for and what we do for the members... and the members rely on us to provide services unlike anything they've ever had before... we're just plain SICK AND TIRED of the man who can't seem to understand that his company is SELF-SUSTAINING now and doesn't require his telling me where he wants a graphic placed on a web page or what font to use on a document. Let him go do what he does best... share his vision and inspire others.

Sigh...

I know what it is like. I once spent $10 more on a disk drive than what the supervisor could have gotten one for and thus got chewed out. The only trouble is that if I waited for the supervisor to get the disk drive the user would have been out a pcfor a month. Projects are the same way. Do your best and get nothing in return. I'm sick of it.

Why is it that the Micro-Manager has usually done the same job in the past? Often they've never had formal Management Training and have no understanding of what it takes to lead a team of professionals. It seems that since they've once done the job they know everything you'll do to mess up, just like they probaby did at one time. They don't trust people to make decisions based on all the bad decisions they made in the past. They constantly remind you of how they've been there done that without actually knowing what you're doing. It's a hard pill to swallow. If you're not doing the job the same way they did it, you'll actually be told to move out the way then do it themselves. It gets so bad that sometimes you're expecting them to tell you when to breathe or which hand to move.

The worse case is when an employee is the type of person that never stands up for themselves. I've seen so many situations where an employee bursts into tears after being berated by a manager like this. But it's up to the employee to get it across that they can handle the job and must be treated with respect and dignity. How? Well this will be different for every situation, but to work in an environment like this drives people up the wall and coming to work becomes a total nightmare. Eventually something has to give and the employee either ends up with health issues, goes postal or quits.

Also to give in a little, a lot of these managers have been burnt so many times that they are afraid to let go. Reality or not, they might feel thier job is on the line and no one's going to take that away from them. Again, this behaviour is usually from someone who's came up through the ranks without proper training.

Lucky for me I just quit to move on, but working for this guy was hell. I have seen 8 guys leave him in the past. Sad part is we were all together for 5,6,7 years until this guy slowly but surely micro managed each one of us to the point of quitting.

Having an involved manager is not bad. If the manager is someone who is being forced to know details and updates, you may not be aware of this. I am currently a manager and I am forced to know exactly what is being worked on and why. I get asked by the people that write our paychecks. Remember IT is not a profit center and the people paying the bills deserve to know how their money is being spent. I don't micro manage because I want to, I ask for updates weekly because I have to in order to ensure that work is being accomplished and to report back to the Sr. Management Team.

The next time you feel micro managed, tell your manager. I have had this happen to me and I explain why I need the information I am asking for and we work outan arrangement we both feel comfortable with.

> I ask for updates weekly because I have to in order to ensure that work is being accomplished and to report back to the Sr. Management Team.

Abbeycatw I think the point is the huge difference between asking for updates and interfering with the work. As a career subordinate, I am always happy to provide updates. I *want* my manager and the senior management team to know what I'm contributing to the mission. What we subordinates call micromanaging occurs when managers
1) meddle in matters that are outside of their areas of expertise,
2)make so many redundant requests for updates (or endless rewrites of updates) that they cause delays in the project schedule
3) take forever to approve a suggestion put forth by subordinate because the manager feels the need to re-do the research
4)override that are clearly part of the subordinate's job description (not the manager's).

I think what you describe is holding people accountable to report on their progress, and to me that sounds like good management.

I USED to work for this person - she was the departmental director. She never undertstood, and even ran out of my office one day early on when I told her to stop micromanaging me. She IS the reason I left that company, and there were no surprizes when I told the VP and HR. Alas, she is still there, and people still grumble and leave. I'm going to pass this along to some of my ex-employees so they at least know they aren't the only ones having to deal with this kind of person. Too, they might be able to get some leverage with it to get her finally to change her ways.

About micromanaging try this web address :

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20020825.html

Best regards,

M.G. FENY?
mgfyo01@adgypac.fr

Everyone has a micro manager, from Mom on down. I think the most successful manner I had with managing a micromanager (yes, they can be managed) is to do three things: 1) Learn how to smile inscrutibly at everything they say or demand; 2) Drive themnuts with loads and loads of information (the more technical the better) and 3) Do everything in writing (emails have that wonderful little cc: tool... they hate poaper trails.) The inscrutible smile makes them think they are missing something, and they go nuts looking for it; the tecnical pile of information shows them how little they know, and how little interest they have in really knowing it; and the cc: tool/paper trail keeps them really wary. I always say the only defense is to do a good job; unfortunately the only defense is a lousy one. So do more than a good job, and bury the sucker with everything.

The light came on...
By reading this article I know realize the kind of destructive attitude I'm generating through the organization.
I feel really bad about it.
I want to change it, I need to change it.

I can tell you, quitting smoking was easier than stopping my micromanagement! The hardest part of the process for both of these was the psychological aspect of letting go. I found myself stepping too far back and having to learn the difference of setting a project milestone and defining the step by step directions on how to get it done. I selected one project, enterprise virus control. I brought the whole team together, had them pick the work teams for each area we needed to define, gave them a due date and left the room. One week later I ask for each project team leader to give me a update of the progress. I was surprised to see who step forward as the team leader in some cases. I helped them develop the project plan, based on the general scope I provided to the whole team earlier and cut them loose. It was a great learning experience for all who were involved. I witnessed peers holding peers accountable and saw honest to goodness open discussions. I brought the whole team back together, each presented their findings, they fine tuned the investigation and then they presented the solutions a week later. I developed the cover letter to present to the package to the CIO and we sought funding based on the findings of my department.

After we purchased the solutions, I was astonished how quickly the solutions were rolled out to the enterprise. I knew from that moment forward, ownership of the solution was key to it?s success.

This sounds rather familiar, case in point, someone from another team came over to talk about how something worked, boss comes over and butts in and says something to the effect that he doesn't want this person taking up my time. I just sat back totally amazed. This is happening all too often now, so I'm planning on transferring, hopefully within the company, but if thats not possible, then finding a new job.

my boss is a nightmare...he controls everything,he emails me constantly with useless "orders" as he does not delegate.Seems he doesnt trust anybody,treats me like a teenager.If im late (we do have a flexible schedule) he email me to ask "is everything ok?" He supervises two people and we are both about to jump ship.He tells me to check xyz info 3 times to confirm.He asks me to do something ,but he has already checked it himself.He is absolutley nuts.He asks me what i think ,i tell him but has not once in 5 years taken my suggestion.He is manipulating,kniving.He told me to look out for travel expenses but then he spends what he wants,is that a double standard or what.He once called me at home while i was having dinner with my family,i didnt answer(i had it on silence) when i checked later there were 3 missed calls,i called him back an hour later,he asked why i didnt answer,i told "having dinner with family..He said "next time you are having dinner keep the phone next to you" i consider that harrassment,period. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I worked for an insane micromanager. Not a horrible human, I don't hate him or anything like that but oh lordy was he a micromanager. I would do setup for tradeshows and marketing events and I could put up the entire set within 2 hours but if he was there it would take at least 8. I would hang a banner and he would have me take it down and move it elsewhere and then later on after he had forgot that he was the one that had it moved to its new location would have me move it back to its original placement and sit back and marvel at what a fantastic eye he had for these things. He would have us get together for "strategizing sessions" where we would discuss about how important his role is with the company and how great we are doing but we never actually said too many things of importance. A 15 minute phone call has 2 minutes of information and 13 minutes of babble.

The worst part is that he was my client and not even my boss. My boss was amazing and would just tell me to keep him happy but was always available for venting. I am probably one of the most punctual people you will ever meet yet somehow I was always late by my clients expectations even though we were always ready and prepared with me being "late". My boss would even bring his kids, who at the time were both under 16 and make them work with him on the weekends and have me tell them what to do and "don't take it easy on them." What a great way to spend time with Dad when he has you for his weekend to bring you to work where you don't get paid.

This guy drove me up a wall... I saw some comments about calling at odd hours. I have gotten calls at 7AM and past 10PM on days off! I even had to come back from vacation in the middle of the week to do some work to get him to shut up one week and it was complete crap work that didn't need to be done that second.

Man oh man did he drive me up the wall. The only thing in the position I had to keep me sane was to befriend the enemy. Couple drinks after work here and there and try and talk about something besides work. Try and pull the humanity out of the corporate robot. Over time (several years) he started to lighten up the control, he would pop into our events and sometimes not even show up at all. When he wouldn't show up I would press twice as hard to make our numbers to show that we work better without him to encourage him to loosen the reigns more.

After all that is said and done the reason I don't dislike the guy is that I think working in a major corporation has melted his thought process. He has been made into this model corporate employee who puts work in front of everything else. His success in life is now dictated on how work has been going instead of using his work as a vessel to accomplish the things that are important. The one greatest thing I got out of working for him was a better understanding of what and who I didn't want to be when I got older. I didn't want to be a good person hidden inside the slimy shell of corporate America.

The other great thing he did was provide me with a lot of material. I actually started my own website called http://www.micromanajerks.com/ where people can vent and post about their jobs and attach their rants to an avatar that may align with their boss. The idea of the website is to give people an outlet for their stress and see that others are in a similar place. I have been seeing great response thus far and hoping it helps out those in need.

We think that micromanagement is detrimental to performance. Take a look at our video parody: Are You a Micro-Manager?