How do you guys deal with Micro managers

ClapDemCheeks

I swear these micro managers get on my nerves.

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Mishra

I work for a company that doesn't have a micro manager.

ClapDemCheeks

want to trade places?

jamesleecoleman

Me too!!!! Maybe they have control issues :P

blackberrycubed

Give them atomic wedgieto get them off your back ?

cyberguypr

My previous job was under a micro manager. No matter how my team try to make him understand how his actions affected the workplace dynamics, he was set in his ways. I was only able to take one year working for him. I moved on and later took one of the guys with me. Still working on getting the third guy out of there.

krjay

I need to quit playing so much starcraft. So yeah micro in the work place...luckily I havent had to deal with this too much yet

edit: never knew the misc roamed here

About7Narwhal

Do everything wrong when they are watching you and perform great when they are not. Just for laughs though.

ClapDemCheeks

you aware?

W Stewart

I deal with it by trying to increase my value as an employee. When you're harder to replace then you get treated a little better. One of the admins at my current job said that he dealt with the last manager by telling him to **** off. The manager was eventually fired for **** off a lot of people.

jvrlopez

This was a big problem when I was in the military.

I dealt with it by just getting what they wanted done at that instance to have them go away. Give it a while, and sure enough, they would show up again. Its a cycle...

Anonymouse

I was in an IT helpdesk call center at my last job and we were micro managed to death. I posted in a thread here to complain about it every once in a while and worked on improving myself to get a better job.

Bokeh

I wonder if the micro managers all have no self worth? I mean do they get off on having to have their nose in each and every part of the work place? Thank goodness this job has far from that going on.

jvrlopez

Most of the micro-managers I've come across have been people bored in their position and looking for something to do. We had a book smart Captain with not much to do so he focused on inane things like grammar and formatting in emails that didn't pertain to him.

W Stewart

In some situations like call centers, they've got somebody breathing down their neck all the time asking them why certain things weren't done a certain way and in a timely fashion. The better managers learn how to deal with it in a way that doesn't cause all of their staff to go looking for another job.

Snow.bros

It would be kind of cool if had an actual manager on the forums i would love to hear their side of the story, beside IT managers i have seen worse managers out there, ever worked with a type of manager that when/she walks into a room the atmosphere suddenly changes with your mood, a no nonsense tolerant manager, the kind of manager that makes you think twice when you get up to work in the morning and some people are still working with those managers for like the rest of their lives.

N2IT

I had a manager who returned a LinkedIn recommendation rewritten with a comment saying I think you were trying to say this. I deal with them by keeping my head down and doing my job. That usually works just fine.

DevilWAH

I am in mid to Late 30's, Have experience in a wide range of IT and decent technical skills. And I am quite lucky in that most of the time no one micromanages and discussion is quite open for every one to take part in. The example below is an exception rather than the rule.

So I am happy to discuss and questions managers, but recently suggested I should change our support company to an non partnered company who highest in house certified engineered is less qualified than me. So in front of the whole office I outline the reasons why it was a bad idea, the pros and cons of cost savings vrs the loss of expertise ,site experience, partnership perks and value adds. etc. I wasn't rude, I did not attack any one personally, just laid out the facts in an honest and open way and responded to his comments.

And then asked him again if it was a good idea to change our support company before the current contract is up and we have thoroughly considered a number of suitable companies including our current supplier and done a fair comparison. He agreed we should wait.

I think you deal with micromanagement by knowing your job and being able to put your point across in a manor that people take note of. You should know enough about you job that you are happy to confront any one in public and justifies your choices and your points. I would never say "no" to my mangers, but any one who asked me to do something that I am not comfortable with I will not agree until we have discussed, it and there is written agreement. Knowing I work like this means management have learnt that there is a strict process to follow, and that I don't do things with out first considering the affects and feeding them back in a manor that clearly highlights any issues or problems we might see. Basicly I wont allow my mangers to make a discussion unless I am happy they have all the relevant facts to hand, makes it have for people to micro manage me

paul78

Interesting dialogue… I thought I would add my 2 cents from a manager's perspective.

In my opinion - micro-management can be a legitimate technique. However, managers that use this style exclusively are probably simply (a) insecure, (b) to much a perfectionist, (c) rigid adherence to process/policy or (d) perhaps confuse leadership with the need for constant feedback.

I do think that in some settings, a micro-management style can be effective. Some employees thrive on the ability to provide constant feedback, a highly regulated setting may require constant monitoring, or a less experienced or tested team may require additional supervision.

An effective manager should generally be able to build a structure where it’s possible to delegate certain responsibilities but those responsibilities should include measureable success factors so that trust can be ideally instilled to avoid micromanagement. But ultimately, the manager is still accountable so verification of staff activities is still required.

One behavior that effective managers need to learn is when to let go of perceived inefficiencies or incorrectness. The lack of that trait is usually what causes managers to be labeled as micro-managers. The lack of being able to identify what is really important to the mission goals eventually ends up as nit-picking and useless “improvements”.

The talent to be a successful manager is not always apparent unless you have managed teams. And it does take a certain self-awareness to be successful. I personally can only manage certain types of organizations because of my own personality traits.

Ideally, to avoid having a manager become a micro-manager, you need to earn trust. I have also had micro-managers before. It really doesn’t bother me and if it makes the person that signs my pay-check feel better, so be it. In all cases, I do my job and focus on the goals and eventually I earn the trust of my management.

SouthSeaPirate

As a manager, I assign, or rather delegate items, projects, etc. I do catch myself sometimes giving a little too detailed instruction. Most of the time I ask one of my guys to do something, but let them do it their own way with the end result as I expected. Unfortunately I do have to jump in sometimes, but only as needed. When I do interfere it's simply to get them back on track; I'm stopping short of saying it's because they're doing it wrong.

Some of it I think it might have a bit to do with perception. I say I need this done with such result when done. Anything that might seem like micro-manage is simply me trying to help.

We have a weekly meeting where all shifts overlap. During this meeting I discuss all the upcoming items and projects, some are assigned to them; only with the details they need. I also allow this time for each team member to speak. We discuss new ideas, issues, projects, questions... This is a chance for everyone to hear each other; your manager should be listening.

In your eyes, am I micromanaging or do you have it something worse?

gadav478

I don't work with any. But in case I ever had to, I would seriously weigh the job's worth vs this jerk and if the conditions are not favorable enough, I plan to jump ship. I'd do this after exploring every avenue favorable to my advancement first, whether it be another position in the company, different hours if feasible, etc. Just my take on it.

QHalo

I over communicate with them to anticipate their needs. After all, they are my boss. If it annoys you, then you leave. But the grass ain't always greener with a boss thats hands-off either

cisco_trooper

If you don't like them find a new job. Like Halo said it isn't that great having someone who doesn't give a crap either.

gorebrush

My immediate line manager does not micro manage me at all. I love it. He consults me properly and professionally when incidents arise, and I offer the same courtesy should the need arise.

There are some people higher up that try and micro manage but they are not too meddlesome, luckily.

DevilWAH

I would also say there is a big part of a job that is managing your managers. If you have a micro manager then use it to your advantage, seeing as you will then have lots of contact with them start to be proactive. Have questions ready that you want to ask them about or answers you need to hear from them. Insure that every time they come to ask something or direct you to do some work, that you use the time to get your own questions answered or make you own comments.

The good things is is that that approach works well for both good and bad micro managers, bad ones will soon start to back of when the relies that coming to talk to you will actually mean work for them to. and with good managers it builds up a relation to share ideas and get to know them.

RobertKaucher

I have nothing to contribute to this conversation except for the following GIF from DevOps reactions:

How Managers See themselves When Micromanaging

redz

I haven't had a micro-managing boss since I was in the military. Were I to have one, I would probably resign whatever position I was in. I had a micromanaging client once... I fired him. I do not cope well with people like that. I do not need constant feedback or direction; I need a desired end-state, a time-frame for completion, and a priority (pending the client).

That said, while in the military, I did have a micromanaging boss who I dealt with/trolled in a variety of ways:
Often I would completely stop working and stare at him blankly until he left.
Once, in Iraq, I gave him a nut shot for standing over my shoulder.
When I knew he was working on something important, I would return the favor by standing over his shoulder and telling him how to do even the most trivial of things ("Click 'File', okay, now click 'Save'... For future reference, if you ever have to do things like this alone, you can also just click that little disk looking thing up on the toolbar").

Overall, I was just a pretty horrible person to him. He never got the point of it, but he did end up being relieved. It's not like I could be fired for any of that anyways, I just never got promoted.

--chris--

I am experiencing the opposite problem lol. I am not sure Macro Managing would provide a broad enough scope, but that term will work for now. It creates odd problems, that is certain.

paul78

@RobertKaucher - that was hilarious - made my morning.

@-chris-- - interesting point - the concept of macro managing is also one legitimate style of managing. I find that for some senior-level managers, there is a fine-line between offering guidance for activities versus simply just goals. I work with a lot of macro managers and frankly, I despise that style if it's too extreme. It often leaves their organizations without adequate feedback on whether progress on accomplishing a goal is sufficient or with the correct level of urgency.

At certain levels, IT managers that are entirely macro and hands-off tend to simply be administrators and personel managers. Those kinds of managers have their place but it really depends on where they sit in the management hierarchy.

-hype

Strong misc presence is strong.

I am dealing with a micro-manager right now. This was the manager that hired me and then got promoted and left and now came back for a few weeks while our current manager is away on leave

Luckily for me, since I do what I'm suppose to- and do it well, I might add. They leave me alone. But my co-workers that slack, my manager lets them have it.

--chris--

paul78 wrote: »

@RobertKaucher - that was hilarious - made my morning.

@-chris-- - interesting point - the concept of macro managing is also one legitimate style of managing. I find that for some senior-level managers, there is a fine-line between offering guidance for activities versus simply just goals. I work with a lot of macro managers and frankly, I despise that style if it's too extreme. It often leaves their organizations without adequate feedback on whether progress on accomplishing a goal is sufficient or with the correct level of urgency.

At certain levels, IT managers that are entirely macro and hands-off tend to simply be administrators and personel managers. Those kinds of managers have their place but it really depends on where they sit in the management hierarchy.

I don't think micro/macro manager is always the wrong way to go about things, being a dynamic manager is what the goal should be. If your team is having trouble (for whatever reason) getting a job done, stepping in and offering assistance/advice and increasing the frequency of meetings is a good thing. The problem is (I think anyways) some managers forget to step it down after that job is done. They forget to go back to normal levels of involvement.

When I said my current manager is a macro manager, I mean he doesn't clearly define a goal and only "pops in" when he wants an update. Maybe macro was the wrong term, I think laissez faire manager would be better.

@-hype, you aware?