Dear Executive Coach:
My new boss is driving me crazy. Since she arrived two months ago I have spent way too much time in her office reviewing data about our operation. And my staff has spent way too much time preparing detailed reports. What can I do to get her to back off?
Dear Micromanagement Victim:
Bottom line – your boss is the boss. Give her what she wants. Better yet, give her what she needs to understand and guide your organization.
Okay, that probably isn’t what you wanted to hear. Let’s examine your options.
1. Stop providing the information she requests. Possibly a career limiting move and guaranteed to make matters worse.
2. Convince her to stop micromanaging you. Apparently you’ve already tried this without success. Further attempts will likely simply frustrate you both.
3. Honor her requests. Your boss took on this role two months ago, so she’s still learning. She learns by gathering and reviewing lots of information. As she learns, she may require less information. Meanwhile, you will need to be patient. The downside of this approach is that you are still in a reactive role and she may be guessing what is important.
4. Provide even more information than she requests. You could speed up her learning curve by giving her more information. Unfortunately, you might also overwhelm her or encourage her to dive even further into details.
5. Give her what she needs to understand and guide your organization. Your challenge is to get to know her and understand what she needs (not what your last boss needed or what you think is appropriate). She is new and has her own unique management style. Once you learn to see things from her point of view, she’ll think you’re brilliant. Fulfill her needs and she’ll gain confidence in you. Over time you will build a strong trust relationship, and she may be willing to work with summary information regarding your operation.
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