Have you ever worked for, with, or in the proximity of a micromanager? These energy vampires spend so much time worrying about what everyone else is doing that they don’t “have time” to do their own job.
I’ve been fascinated with the micromanager my entire professional career. Early on, I thought these people were trying to help me. Honestly. I thought they were in my face, dictating my every move, my every task, so that at some point I would do it on my own, their way, without their help.
As I moved through my career, I realized that most micromanagers actually don’t know how to do their own job so they put on this “busy” façade by always “helping” their employees. Their over-shoulder management tactic had absolutely nothing to do with wanting me, their employee, to learn something or grow professionally. It was all about them having control and keeping me in the most comfortable place for them.
In my opinion, micromanagers are the single most detrimental type of employee in big business. Corporations should absolutely have quality workforce standards. And these should be documented and executable by all new and current employees. (And enforced!) Employees should be trained on processes and standards and given the opportunity to go it alone. If at first they don’t succeed, they should be re-trained, reminded of the standard, given a second chance. If they continue to just not get it, they should be moved to a position better suited to their skill set or let go.
micromanagers are mostly just people who know they can’t do their job, who have no desire to do better, who are master manipulators of people, and who’s low self-esteem issues drive their incessant need for control.
But when micromanagers are thrown in the mix, the employee never has a chance to succeed or fail, and the micromanager doesn’t either! Since the micromanager is doing everyone else’s job but their own, they have a seemingly valid excuse for not doing their job well. People working for micromanagers suffer from a small version of Stockholm Syndrome and tend to protect the micromanager if any issues come up. They see the micromanager as their helper, their advocate, and they are fooled by the helpful façade of the micromanager.
In fact, micromanagers are mostly just people who know they can’t do their job, who have no desire to do better, who are master manipulators of people, and who’s low self-esteem issues drive their incessant need for control. They get in the way of progress, waste resources, and keep bad workers employed way too long (including themselves).
Every request they make is a selfish one, to buy themselves time, to shift blame for poor work product from their team to yours, to give themselves a false sense of control, and to manipulate the situation to make it personal.
Look, if you’re going to hire someone to do a job, let them do their job. If you want to do their job for them, what do you need them for? Let them grow or let them go. It’s pretty simple and far less time consuming than managing every second of every hour of every day for every employee. At the very least, during the hiring process, let the candidates know that you like to micromanage. This will send the smart, independent candidates running for the hills and you’ll have the exact hire you need.
How to Spot a Micromanager
Look for these signs to determine if you work WITH a micromanager (either on your team or on a cross-functional project or task). A micromanager will:
- Attend all meetings rather than sending a member of their team (when they could easily send a member of their team)
- Not respond to emails because they are “too busy” and they ask that you work directly with them, directly and in-person (if you can find them), on any issues
- Request that you work ONLY with them, rather than directly with their team member who is actually doing the work
- Manipulate their own boss to make you look like the problem when you raise a concern or issue with anything relating to their team, even if your intention is to simply help solve any issue
Working cross-functionally with micromanagers, or teams lead by micromanagers, is difficult (understatement), and will likely result in delayed or incorrect work product (which will always be your fault, not theirs). The best thing you can do, and what they won’t expect, is to do EXACTLY as they ask.
Yes. That’s right. If they want to be copied on every email you send to their team, copy them on every.single.email. If they want to attend all meetings, send them invites to every.single.meeting. (However, do NOT adjust your meeting schedule to accommodate them. They will NEVER have time to attend because they are too busy appearing to do everyone else’s job.)
Remember, the micromanager either doesn’t care about the big picture or they don’t have the capacity to understand the higher-level company goals or strategy. Every request they make is a selfish one, to buy themselves time, to shift blame for poor work product from their team to yours, to give themselves a false sense of control, and to manipulate the situation to make it personal. Not worth a second of your time or energy.
Segovia Consulting 