Micromanager

Micromanager Meaning

Micromanager refers to a special category of executive or boss who tries to control every aspect of a project and its members for their satisfaction and expects better output. As a result, micromanaging encompasses the good intentions of the person to give the best business outputs by their extreme handling of team members and the project. 

Although these managers expect a better outcome, it may increase the work strain on workers and contribute to the manager's high anxiety. This is because they deeply involve themselves in the team member's work and start troubling them with constant interference, frequent criticism, and a high-handed attitude. 

• A micromanager is a manager who focuses on small details of a project and staff daily regarding a task to stand out and satisfy his superiors. It acts as a short-term benefit to the firm.
• Such micromanagement is partially beneficial but negatively affects staff morale & creativity, business, work environment, and profitability of an organization.
• Narcissism is the best sign to recognize a person micromanaging staff and interfering in every work of staff to satisfy their ego. For example, they constantly ask for reports and updates like a bully.
• Employees need to deal with such managers using micromanagement very calmly and tactically. They must put open-ended questions to their managers to get the required intentions and clarity on a staff's project.

Micromanager Explained

A micromanager refers to a person who gives extreme supervision to a team or a project. They constantly worry, remain anxious and thus involve themselves in other team members' work, leading to a short-term increase in the firm's output. However, it creates a toxic work environment for the employees. As a result, the staff fears experiencing their creativity to ensure productive work.

More often than not, the micromanager boss remains present at the topmost hierarchy of an organization. It results from the manager's anxiety, insecurity, and authoritarian attitude. Such managers are narcissists and want to do everything in the office to satisfy their ego and feel superior and successful, even at the cost of bullying staff.

It is a short-term-oriented management style and loses out on long-term planning. Moreover, short-term planning makes these executives interfere with their team member's work. They fear power delegation and concentrate on daily outcomes and performance of employees by constantly monitoring and making every trivial issue significant. As a result, they find few reasons to delay the project deadline. Sometimes, employers ask the employees to report daily and update their progress every hour. 

This action, in turn, distracts the employee, and they lose precious time satisfying the manager's demands. In some cases, micromanagement gets to the extreme of exploitation and bullying of the staff at the workplace. Furthermore, employees lose their self-respect, motivation, and zeal to work for the company. Eventually, a talented staff may also quit. Thus, a rival may employ the ex-employee of the micromanaged firm and increase its efficiency, productivity, business, and profitability.

The person engaged in micromanaging is often unaware of themselves regarding their habitual micromanagement actions. Therefore, the organization must ensure that micromanagement does not affect employees' health or zeal to work. Otherwise, it may act counterproductive.

Signs Of Micromanager

Such micro regulators follow the micromanagement style of leadership. As per the IJSTR report, negative causes like insecurity, fear of negative outcomes, and lack of trust contributes to micromanagement habits. Most employees report that they experienced micromanagement at least once in their careers. Following are a few important micromanager characteristics that help one recognize such executives:

• Micromanager tends to keep the team members and subordinates in the dark regarding their plans, objectives, and priorities.
• They tend to own others' work. 
• Micro supervisors get inclined to get all praises from superiors for others' work.
• These managers kill any independent voice in front of their decisions.
• Members get a feeling of negativity in their work.
• A subordinate's work often reflects minor errors or lacunae to them.
• Such managers find a need to approve every task.
• The micro supervisors enforce updating and seek approval of micro detail and work progress. They use micromanager software to collect updates.
• It gets hard for team members to communicate suggestions or delegate to the person.
• Every mail must contain these people in the cc (carbon copy).
• They complicate all the instructions for their junior employees.
• These people have the attitude that they are the best and all others are inferior to them. In short, they are narcissists.

How To Deal With A Micromanager?

Micromanager quotes highlight that such executives are toxic. If someone feels like being micromanaged by the supervisor, then one can follow the below suggestions:

• First and foremost, one must try to earn the trust of the micromanager.
• After this, one should try to take a brief or guideline of any project assigned by such managers.
• Next, open the communication channel with the supervisor regarding steps or methods to improve performance at work.
• Make a habit of asking open-ended questions to such managers for better collaboration.
• State the intent clearly in a positive tone will force employees' managers to minimize micromanaging.
• Prepare standards of working in a project like a goal creation, expectation clarification, boundaries set, work progress sharing, and guidance seeking.
• Create an environment where such a manager feels in control of everything, but it's not.
• Try highlighting the manager's humane side by highlighting its positive traits.
• Get open to new modes of communication. 
• Last and most, try to earn the trust of your micromanager.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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