Working under a boss most of the time seems like a strain and a risk to mental health and you want to know how To deal with A microManager
While some will confess that their bosses are interestingly cool, some others can sweat regrets about why they even took up the job in the first place.
This is where most micromanagers fall, so you need to know how to deal with them.
Dealing with a micromanager is something you have to do with a level of respect and firmness.
Knowing how to ask for space and how to ask for a level of trust and confidence, anticipating expectations ahead of time, and planning never to be caught unprepared are necessities when working under a micromanager.
However, your boss can be a near perfectionist and thereby aim to push his or her staff towards the mark of excellence, but some bosses are thorough bullies, edging the life out of their staff for no reason.
One such type of boss is a micromanager.
They hang over the noses of their staff and make sure they puke their noses into every single detail, mistake, or effort their staff makes.
But you can learn how to deal with a micromanager and be more effective and happier while working.
Who Is A MicroManager?
This is a boss who manages, directs, or controls a person, group, or system to an unnecessary level of detail or precision. Now you ask, How do you know if your boss Micromanages?
First, once your boss finds it hard to delegate responsibility without his overly anxious mind hovering over your decisions just to nitpick the tiniest of your mistakes, he is a micromanager.
Some bosses are micromanagers due to past experiences with delegation, and some are overly zealous to hit an unrealistic or inhuman target, while others are not used to delegating responsibilities as some of them are new to leadership positions.
Some micromanagers are under undue pressure to outperform their normal capacities by saying something superior or just hitting a target. But the remains: how do you deal with a micromanager?
How To Deal With A MicroManager
No matter what kind of micromanager you have as a boss, don’t let their life ruin your mental life or your confidence in your work life. Here are some tips to help you know how to deal with a micromanager.
1. Devote Time And Build A Strong Trust System
Most people, including that micromanaging boss, will always want to nitpick you once they don’t trust or have reliable confidence in your abilities.
You might have been the cause; maybe you were allowed to handle a project alone in the past and you turned it in late after the deadline, and in order not to allow such an incident to repeat itself, your boss starts micromanaging you.
Maybe it’s your mistake that has earned you distrust and a lack of confidence in yourself.
Nevertheless, don’t lie there as if nothing can be done, you can start now to push yourself to build trust and devote your time to it. It can mean you being a little more diligent and devoted to your work responsibilities and trying to beat the deadlines.
And be honest about your approach and what you intend to achieve, after a while especially when he sees you turn in on time no matter the limit you are pushed to and the bonds are building well, you’ll see him adjusting his sleeve and letting you breathe.
2. Learn To Accommodate Their Behaviour
Learning to accommodate their behavior is a great step in how to deal with a micromanager. People don’t act the way they act voluntarily, most of the time it is an involuntary action.
So, you need to understand their lifestyle and know why they behave the way they do.
Being accommodative can mean that you will overlook a lot and try to assure them that you will deliver your part of the assignment on time.
Understanding their nature or behavior takes a lot of sacrifices and devotion, at least to make them know that you are aware they are concerned about the sustaining establishment of the company.
A few micromanagers can change over time, while some can’t easily, so while you await the changes, It’s ok you learn how to accommodate their behaviors.
3. Speak Up To Your MicroManaging Boss
Despite the underlying fear you might have for your boss, learn to start up a discussion between you and your boss. Try not to overlook the value of a conversation, don’t assume that it’s not worth it either, because most times the best way to get a problem settled is by starting an honest conversation.
During the conversation try not to speak about his personality and how tough it is on you though with a polite tune, but focus more on the problem itself and how you feel it’s affecting your productivity in the company.
Most micromanagers want a trustworthy discussion and assurance that their demands can be met even without them trying to supervise and nitpick about you.
4. Think And Act Ahead Of Your MicroManager
Maybe by chance, you have become accustomed to a pattern of micromanagement, try to look beyond your present and act ahead of time. Ahead in such a way that you successfully keep everything in place before he comes snoozing around looking for one perfect mistake to prey on.
Whenever your micromanager boss wants to come nitpicking around your job, always have a surprise that is ahead of his expectations. When your boss sees such enthusiasm he will be propel to see the bright future in delegating responsibilities to you and also trust your delivering power.
5. Ask For Direct Mentorship And Feedback From Your MicroManager
There is a popular saying the best way to keep money safe is to give it to the thief to keep. While this can be unreal its implications are realistic and it works, for as many times you try to blend into the figure of what your micromanaging boss wants you to fit into, you can’t still please him to satisfaction.
Hence, a safe and reliable pattern to follow is before you try to fit into any hole, let him dig it himself and see if it fits any human.
You can ask him questions like this “Sir, I took note of your comments and corrections during my presentations, I’ll appreciate it if you throw more light so I can strictly follow the right pattern”, or “I guess I didn’t follow the right steps towards this goal, your swift reminder on how it’s done will help me hit the target and be done in no distant time”.
This is one great step on how to deal with a micromanager.
6. Share Your Ordeal With A Friend
Friends have a way of coming into our lives to cause a change whether we agree to it or not. A trusted friend can be a one-time solution to an aged kind of headache.
A problem shared they say is a problem half solved and that says it all, and maybe it might be your work ethic after all not even that your boss is micromanaging, a friend is in the right place to tell you that.
When you have a micromanager as a boss, don’t shut your mouth and wallow in your thoughts alone, sometimes the solution to what you are going through might just be in the brains and minds of your friend.
Discuss with a friend how uncomfortable you feel over your boss’ micromanaging attitude and ask for help also on how to confront it.
Sometimes a friend doesn’t have all the solutions in the world in the form of words of advice but can help you make a joke about a very irritating situation.
A friend who will help you tackle your discomfort with a light joke and make your perception of addressing a micromanaging boss with bitterness into making light of all the irritating attitude and make a joke to help ease your complaint.
7. Change Your Work Ethics
Hence the need to be more productive at your workplace, the need to investigate your pattern of work and ethics if maybe you are the actual cause of the strict supervision.
Most companies have laid down principles of how they want their affairs to be run. If you get integrated into these companies the normal demands will be that you flow along or risk being a brown egg amongst white eggs.
You can’t be lazy in your advent to responsibilities and expect your slate to be praised or be filled with congratulations. Company heads or Bosses love a more productive person than that single person who spends so much time giving excuses. You will need to change your work ethic once you complete your investigation and discover you are the cause of your boss micromanaging you.
Stop every form of procrastination and be prompt to start and complete a task. Learn to accept work and refuse the urge to give excuses why you couldn’t finish a task on time. Always try to put extra effort into completing any task you are given, no matter how tough it might be for you.
8. Always Know Your Limit
While some people run away from responsibilities, some hijack claims of expertise in a field they know nothing about, thereby making expectations of them high and the pressure placed on them excessively unmeasurable.
Furthermore, you need to fight the desire to claim a responsibility that you know you can’t comfortably handle according to your abilities.
Because when you exaggerate your ability and don’t meet up with the scheduled expectations, this might lead to your boss losing confidence in you and subsequently wanting not to delegate any function to you, or even if he does allocate, he begins to nitpick on you now and then.
9. Help Them Navigate Their Involvement
The majority of the time micromanagers don’t know they are nitpicking or standing unnecessarily over their staff’s nose. You can help them guide their involvement politely. Maybe request for space by using words like, “This will be nice if you allow me to do this first, when am done I’ll report back to you immediately”.
In a case like this you are not only asking for your space to breathe while working but also you are making them know that their involvement isn’t kicked against or overlooked.
Some micromanagers act the way they do due to some insecurities, some bosses feel that if they don’t boss you around you might downplay them or consider them not fit enough to be at the helm of affairs.
But a quick reminder that you acknowledge their position as boss while still asking for your comfort makes it an easy ordeal.
10. Be Polite With A Smile
It’s not easy being micromanaged, being placed always under undue pressure to produce results or results even against a brink_wall limit. Nobody likes such conditions, but do you know that even micromanagers don’t like being identified as such?
Thus, the best way to pass information that will stick in their minds is to make sure you use a polite smile while trying to explain to them what is not right about their approach to things.
Final Words
A micromanager can either ruin your self-motivation or make you a log of empty ideas, and your approach toward these kinds of people affects your productivity also. Many micromanagers have various reasons why they are the way they are-albeit many of them don’t see any wrong with being a micromanager at any point in time. I believe you have learned how to deal with a micromanager.
