Dealing with micro managers

I've never understood this micromanagement obsession that has some people. I don't see these kind bosses as leaders.

Dealing with them is not easy, I've tried sometimes to speak with them (not only bosses, also peers), explaining all disadvantages of the micromanagement and the benefits of delegating tasks and feel confident with the team members.

I'll wait other people comments to see their suggestions.

Anupam,

There are lots of Micro-Managers these days and of course in my point of view, those can't be classified as leaders.

For the strategy of dealing with micro-managers, efftects and tools, please refer to my article (Micro-Management: A trip to failure):

http://www.projectmanagement.com/articles/...Trip-to-Failure

Hope you find it useful.

I've never understood this micromanagement obsession that has some people. I don't see these kind bosses as leaders.

Dealing with them is not easy, I've tried sometimes to speak with them (not only bosses, also peers), explaining all disadvantages of the micromanagement and the benefits of delegating tasks and feel confident with the team members.

I'll wait other people comments to see their suggestions.

Leadership style is a strategic matter. As you know there are some leading models. Some people named one of them micromanagement. If the style is aligned with the organizational strategy is nothing to say about that. Strategy determines the architecture, mainly business architecture. To analyze if the business architecture is aligned with strategy you can use models like Tom Peter`s Seven S Model. One of the "S" is about Style where leadership can be analyzed.

Rami,

Thanks for sharing. Nice article.

It’s very difficult to work with these type of bosses, as they will never admit or accept. You have two choices either live with the situation or give up and quit. Either of these is not good for the project, team and the organization.

From the employee point of view, you'll be micromanaged as long as you don't ensure that your work is at least satisfactory. If you see the goals of your work clearly, you should be able to get there.

From a manager point of view, you don't delegate what you cannot check and you don't regulate what you cannot enforce. you should focus on the goals and provide resources to get there.

Micromanagement works well for small project teams, mainly composed of junior people. There you need them to learn how to do their tasks. If you don't check their work and coach regularly, it's the recipe for disaster. If they don't look to better themselves at doing their tasks, you have the wrong motivation mechanisms in place.

Micromanaging senior members and/or large teams, with proven track of success is a mistake. There, you limit their ideas focusing on the details instead of the goal. This eats most of your time and uncovers frustrations on all sides. If you don't delegate to people who know how to use the resources efficiently, you're not a manager. You're a doer. You might be very good at it, but that does not help the team.

Leadership is a different sauce. Here you need to make the team see the future through your eyes. If they like what they see, you'll have the happiest team ever. And that's all that counts.