An overbearing or micromanaging boss can be very hard to deal with. Most people will have at least one encounter with a micromanaging boss in their lifetimes, rather in their professional careers. Those who have never dealt with a micromanaging boss will never know how challenging, frustrating and limiting the entire experience is.
There are several short term and far-reaching consequences of being micromanaged. A professional would feel irritated and frustrated while at the same time he or she would be helpless because the irritant and the cause of frustration is the boss. An overbearing boss perceives that by intervening all the time the professionals would perform better. In reality, just the opposite happens. Professionals underperform when they are micromanaged. Micromanagement can cause attrition and it may even affect the psyche of employees which will later affect their careers and future jobs. However, the damage is not permanent and one can easily do away with the aftermath when working in a new environment for a new boss.
Here’s a brief guide that should help you to deal with a micromanaging boss. The guide is not exhaustive but it should get you started and should offer you some respite. Success would also depend on how you approach these strategies and how well you execute them.
Step 1:
The first step to deal with a micromanaging boss is to understand what the boss wants. It is very easy to remain peeved off with an overbearing boss but that would help no one. Neither would the employee have any respite nor would the boss back down. Instead, it would be better to ask the boss what he or she wants from a particular employee or a team. Overbearing bosses often tend to demand accountability for every minute, even seconds at times. Latecomers will be taken to task, often while everyone is around and even if one was only two minutes late. A micromanaging boss may just breathe down your neck a dozen times every hour. Such actions of these bosses don’t help but what an employee should do is ask what the boss actually wants. It may so happen that the boss is of the perception that coming at the exact time will ensure more productivity and would also have the employee spend the full eight odd hours, or however long the shift is, at work. This can be addressed by intimating if one is running late or by working a few additional minutes after the shift is over. Similarly, bosses don’t need to breathe down your neck if you know what is expected of you and deliver it on time. For the first few days the boss will be unable to get rid of the habit but when you would keep delivering according to the expectations of your boss, he or she would stand down. Hence, ask your boss what he or she wants from you or expects from you and don’t fail to deliver.
Step 2:
You should ask your boss to be lucid with the objectives. In most working environments, the employees don’t know the big picture. This is very common with junior level executives and also fairly normal for midlevel managers or professionals as well. The big picture cannot be concealed by the senior management. If a supervisor, manager or even a chief executive is not sharing the vision or the larger picture with the employees, he or she cannot expect the employees to contribute to that in the manner that they want. For anyone to make adequate contribution or to offer a certain level of dedication, conviction and hard work, he or she would have to know the objective. The entire workforce in a company must have a collective objective that they should be chasing or vying for. That’s what would make people more accountable; not the boss knocking on the cubicle for ten times every three hours. Hence, as someone with a micromanaging boss, you should ask him or her what the big picture is. If you are uncertain of your role in the larger scheme of things then have that clarified as well.
Step 3:
Understand your micromanaging boss. While employees are always the ones to complain, they don’t get to know what their bosses’ complaints may be. It is true that micromanagers come down heavily on employees, at times harshly and even rudely. But those showdowns are not entirely what the boss is miffed with. Those are the mere articulations or expressions of certain discontents that are not being shared. Bosses are often under extreme pressure and that leads to duress. Such bosses often turn to micromanagement to ensure that things go as they want. What they don’t realize is that their efforts at micromanaging will only make matters worse. As an employee, if you wish to deal with your overbearing boss and want to find a solution, then you should ask your boss about the real problems. If your boss is not someone you can walk up to and have a hearty chat, then try to empathize with him or her. Show that you can understand that they are walking a tight rope without any harness and that you are there to help or to play your role so your boss can achieve his or her target. This will not only just make a boss back off a few steps in the micromanaging routine but the boss might just become more open and friendly with you. This can be the beginning of a newfound working relationship which will be that of a team having a captain instead of workers having a boss.
Step 4:
It is always better to be proactive with a micromanaging boss. There are certain reasons why some bosses become micromanagers in the first place. There are only a few people who like to nitpick, especially at work. Most bosses are simply worried about the eventual results. When supervisors, managers and team leaders or even chief executives experience repeated failures of a team and thus also theirs, they tend to believe that the professionals in the company are not working enough or are certainly not doing what they are supposed to do. This belief is one of the basic seeds that lead to micromanagement. There comes a time when a boss becomes obsessed with micromanagement. While you may not be able to do away with the seeds that have been sowed deep within the psyche of your boss, you can certainly be proactive, accountable and deliver things before they are needed, which will easily prevent your boss from haunting you throughout your workday.
Step 5:
If none of these steps work, even a bit, to deal with a micromanaging boss, then you should consider another job. There are some bosses who are not just obsessed with micromanagement but also possessed by the idea. Such people will always remain overbearing bosses and be difficult to deal with. You cannot change them and if your enhanced efforts, proactive delivery or hard work is not being appreciated, then you should move on. Don’t be disappointed if you cannot work it out with a micromanaging boss. Also, don’t presume that you would have such a boss in every company you work for.