Micromanagement Sucks, But Your Boss is Still Human
empathize with that micromanaging boss instead of vilifying them
We’re encouraged not to meet our heroes in real life. This piece of advice hinges on the assumption that our fantasy will pale in comparison to the reality that our hero is, well, human.
If that’s the case with heroes, what about villains?
The Micromanaging Boss has become a villain for many, driving them from one job to another.
Take Ellis. She's talented, so she got promoted to a management position.
Now she’s evaluated on the performance of the group she manages, not solely on her own efforts.
She asks for plans and timelines so she knows what's going on — even though she breathes down everyone’s neck with requests for updates and perpetually expresses concern about things getting done.
She wants to see everything before it goes out — that’s the only way to ensure that it’s correct.
She wants everyone to add something to a weekly email she sends to the C-suite — because she needs to make her team’s value clear.
And through it all, her tone makes it seem like she has no confidence in what her group can do.
While it would be easy to tear apart Ellis’s actions, I would like to suggest that in some ways, the same rule applies to villains that applies to heroes: they’re still human.
Are there managers out there who simply don’t care about their people and use them as levers to get a bigger paycheck or greater status? Yes.
But there are probably more people in management roles who, like Ellis, are terribly insecure.
She wants the plans and timelines because they help her feel like she has control of what’s going on.
She wants to review everything because she worries her own work doesn't measure up and mistakes only confirm it.
She’s sending that email to the C-suite because she isn’t secure in her own value.
And her tone expresses her own anxiety.
We shouldn't tolerate micromanagement, but we should also empathize with the person behind it.
And it's possible that by showing empathy, you can help change the behavior.
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