How to Survive Working for a Micro-Manager

For those of us who have experienced working for a micro-manager, this article may help you to realise that you're not alone and that many other people have gone through the same (unpleasant) experience.

For those of you that haven't experienced working for a micro-manager, congratulations. You work in a balanced, respectful and mentally well-balanced workplace. Enjoy. Unfortunately, statistically speaking, your time will come. Micro-management is a common management trait, and although it is hugely unpleasant working for micro-managers the unpalatable truth is that in many organisations senior management like the short-term results micro-managers deliver, and in many cases, micro-managers thrive, even as the employee churn rate increases.

For those of you who are working for a micro-manager, or may do so in the future this article is a guide to surviving them...and if you do survive and remain in your current company please let me know how!

What are the signs you're working for a micro-manager?

Working for a micro-manager is tough. In the long term, it can lead to lack of sleep, depression, lethargy and loss of confidence. If you're working for a micro-manager you need to take action quickly. Don't kid yourself that they will change their behaviours, or that it will get easier as you get better at doing your job. That is not how micro-managers work.

Some of the most recognisable signs are:

1. Constant requests for meetings and updates.
2. Arbitrary deadlines that give the manager time to review (and correct your work).
3. Constant criticism of your work methodology "I don't like how you did this..."
4. Lack of recognition or credit for your work.
5. Focus on minutiae - grammar, spelling, font choice, font size etc.

Just writing this list brings back the feelings of tension and frustration I felt working for a micro-manager. Working for a micro-manager you can spend as much time reporting on a task as you do doing the task.

Attending external meetings, or even internal meetings, with your boss in-tow, undermines your credibility and causes confusion as to who is leading the task. Micro-managers suffer from FOMO, "fear-of-missing-out", and like to attend meetings where they have no role other than as the manager of the person doing the work.

My particular bugbear is the setting of an arbitrary deadline on a task that compresses your time and allows the micro-manager plenty of time to review, criticise and correct your work. This then also gives the micro-manager the opportunity to deny you credit for the work you've done.

"Of course it is a great report, but I had to take over and spend three-days correcting Justin's work to get it right!"

That's another thing to understand about micro-managers. If you're good at what you do you're a threat.

The impact on working for a micro-manager

Working for a micro-manager is a zero-sum game.

If you're good at your job, you're a threat and you won't be recognised for your contribution. This is demotivating, to say the least.

If you're new to your role and need support and mentoring to be successful, you simply won't get it. For the micro-manager, anything that improves your performance or capability increases your threat to them. I worked for a micro-manager who consistently told me that there was no budget for training or courses. I only found out in my exit interview from HR that this wasn't the case when I cited a lack of training opportunities as one reason for leaving.

Another aspect of working for a micro-manager is the constant need for updates, progress reports and data about your tasks and activities. This can be particularly painful when faced with an aggressive deadline (possibly artificially aggressive) where a large percentage of your time is spent reporting on a task instead of doing it.

It is important to understand the psychology of a micro-manager and to react appropriately to these types of pressures. Micro-managers are naturally insecure, they may have made (undisclosed) promises about completion of a task, and they realise they don't have full control over the process and this causes them anxiety. The need for updates, briefings and data helps them feel in control and reduces their anxiety, even if it increases yours.

The appropriate way to deal with this is to set up regular and scheduled updates, giving them visibility and progress. This is painful, but ultimately its the best coping strategy. Try to negotiate agreed deliverables around progress reporting, and try to encourage them to stick with the agreement.

Don't follow my natural inclination which is to resent the hell out of the constant intrusions and deliver the task and project on the agreed deadline, but without providing detail about the project or status. While this feels good, and possibly demonstrates the need for trust in a team, it creates huge levels of anxiety in your micro-manager, which they won't thank you for. They won't remember that you delivered a fantastic project on time. All that they will remember is that you created huge amounts of stress and discomfort for them. Your days are numbered.

Why do people micro-manage?

What many people forget is that micro-management is a very effective management technique to complete complex tasks. It is driven by hitting deadlines, attention detail, checking and rechecking. Micro-managers get things done, they get them done on time, and they don't let anything interfere with the task. Don't expect sympathy from a micro-manager if you get ill or a close family member dies. For them, this is a distraction from the task.

Many companies are also task-centric. They measure performance through the completion of tasks and reward managers for completing tasks and objectives. Micro-managers are often very successful in corporate environments.

I'm not advocating micro-management. I think it is a horrible management style, but the reality is that micro-managers get promoted and often achieve very senior positions, particularly in detail-orientated roles.

The high technology sector is also well-known for individuals who lack or have limited emotional intelligence, and in any organisation, there will be a smattering of borderline sociopaths. These individuals can be very successful in task-orientated roles and micro-management is an effective management style if you have limited emotional intelligence...in other words:

"you don't give a toss for your team, all that matters is getting the job done!"

It is important to note that I see micro-management as a "management style" not a leadership style. Micro-managers get tasks done at the expense of teams and individuals. Effective leaders complete tasks with the consent of teams and individuals. Micro-managers destroy teams. Leader build teams. This is a hugely important difference, but difficult to distinguish if you're only measuring task completion as a measure of success.

How does senior management react to micro-management?

This is the crux of why working for a micro-manager is a zero-sum game. Many, not all but many, senior managers like micro-managers. They get tasks done, they never come to them with problems and however unreasonable the request the micro-manager will always say "Yes!" Micro-managers have no problem with their teams working long hours or weekends to get a task completed. Quite simply micro-managers are easy to manage.

However, taking a holistic approach to the company, the impact of micro-managers is clear. If you run an anonymous employee satisfaction survey low levels of employee satisfaction could be a possible indicator you have a micro-management culture, as is high employee turnover.

What is particularly interesting is where employees take inexplicable side-ways moves or leave the company for equivalent or lower-paid jobs. In this instance, a good employee exit interview may also allow you to see the scale of the problem.

Sadly, too many companies simply focus on task-based metrics, but when you consider the cost of recruitment, typically 20-30% of annual salary for senior roles, and the loss of productivity as replacements come up to speed, the cost of supporting a micro-manager may be higher than you think.

The micro-manager action plan

As you may be able to tell, I've worked for a few micro-managers. I've learned some good coping mechanisms, but ultimately working for a micro-manager has always led to me leaving the company or changing my role. Being micro-managed is degrading, it impacts your self-esteem and you are unlikely to be recognized for your valuable contribution to the organization.

In one company I worked for the whole team used to dread the telephone call at 4pm on a Friday asking for a task to be completed by 9am the next Monday, a micro-management tactic guaranteed to impact your home life as well as your work-life.

So here is my action plan:

1. Get out
2. Seriously, get out
3. Find a mentor, coach or supporter
4. Log unreasonable requests and deadlines
5. Over-communicate

Get Out

It's simple. Get out as quickly as you can. Try to move to another team, change roles within the company, look at a transfer overseas. You will not thrive working for a micro-manager and the impact on your health and wellbeing may be catastrophic.

Seriously, get out

If you can't move internally, move externally. Plan your exit, try and find a suitable new role but plan for a hasty exit. Too long working for a micro-manager destroys your confidence, and may make you unemployable in the short-term. Remember that, if you're really good at your job you will terrify a micro-manager, who probably recognises deep-down they have been promoted beyond their level of competence, the so-called "Peter Principal"*. If you don't jump, you may be pushed.

I once worked for a micro-manager who was asked, "Do you work for Justin?" That was the final nail in my coffin. Her worst fear was realised, she had a team member that was recognised as being as talented or more talented than her. Within weeks I was engineered out of the business through an unexpected "reorganisation".

Find a mentor, coach or supporter

If you can, find someone you trust to talk to. They can help you through the worst times. I was very lucky in one role to have the services of a coach, Richard Maun, who helped me develop micro-management coping strategies. It helped me to cope until I found a suitable new role.

In my experience, I've not found HR particularly helpful in this situation. Conversations with the micro-manager's manager are fraught for two reasons.

Firstly, the perceived threat becomes a real threat, expect some dirty tricks and a few high-stakes games of "gotcha".

Secondly, senior managers often like micro-managers because they get things done, and don't bother them with "trivial" HR issues. Don't expect them to thank you for bringing this to their attention.

Log unreasonable requests and deadlines

If you've moved your micro-manager onto a war-footing by challenging them, embarrassing them or talking to their manager about them, they will look to get you out of the business as quickly as possible.

A prolonged game of "Gotcha" is a great way to force the employee out. The rules are simple. They ask you to do something reasonable with an unreasonable timeframe, and wait for you to fail.

The 4 pm call on a Friday was a great example. To call after normal business hours could invite a legitimate push-back, but calling during working hours and giving someone a task you're into semantics.

"I gave them an hour if it took them six hours maybe they're just not right for the job!".

With "Gotcha" you have two options:

• Accept the challenge and accept the impact on your personal life
• Refuse, and be labelled a trouble-maker or poor-performer

Being on the receiving end of this type of psychological mind-game is wearing. Get out, but also log everything that happens for the future.

Over-communicate

The key coping strategy working for a micro-manager is to over-communicate. Work time into your task plan to provide regular and detailed updates on progress and actions. Set-up regular progress and review meetings, and send minutes to the micro-manager. Make sure they know the project is under control.

It's painful, and really not how anyone likes to be managed, but "playing their game" reduces the micro-manager's anxiety and gives you the breathing space to plan your exit.

Recovering your self-esteem

Once you've moved away from the micro-manager you can begin the process of healing. Reflect on the good things you did, talk to your colleagues and former-colleagues and remember that you really didn't deserve to be treated in that manner.

Take away the positives from your experience. You've managed to cope with a very complex and difficult [abusive?] work relationship and you've survived. If you face a situation like that again you'll have the tools and experience to help you.

Think about the new skills you've learned. Working for a micro-manager improves your planning and communications skills. You learn to deal with rigid deadlines and to prioritise. These are all useful skills.

Conclusion

I've painted a bleak picture of working for micro-managers. They are one of the most unpleasant management styles you can come across in business, I don't use the term "abusive" lightly. Unfortunately, it is also a common management style, because it can seem to be very effective at getting things done.

If you end up working for a micro-manager use this article and some of my suggestions to plan an orderly exit. In the hiring process for your new job do your due diligence. Ask your new manager questions about their style and approach and make sure in your haste to change jobs you don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

*The Peter Principle (William Morrow and Company, 1969) by Dr Peter and Raymond Hull.