What to do if your boss micromanages

A mentee of mine (let's call him "Rakesh") called me up to talk about a problem at work. He said, “Siva, as you know I got promoted as manager just a few months back. My boss micromanages. I don't know what to do."

I asked him to take a few deep breaths and calmed him down. Our conversation began.

“Rakesh, don’t worry. We’ll solve this together. Let me understand your problem in detail. Can you describe the micromanagement your boss is doing?”

“A few weeks after my promotion, I was assigned to lead a small, new project with a team size of 7 members. My boss told me I'd have enough freedom and support to run the project. I used to give him weekly status updates through a formal report. He used to attend the team meetings every two weeks and share his advice. Suddenly, he was calling weekly team meetings and asking everyone about their status. After the team meeting, he’d give me a bunch of tasks. I don't know if I'm the Project Manager or the assistant to my boss".

"Did you talk to your boss about this? Why is he holding meetings every week now?”

"When I asked him, he said it was a critical project and that all senior management attention was on it. That's why such a supervision was needed".

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything. I thought there might be some insecurity since I'm a new manager".

“Probably. It could also be due to pressure from senior management. So, whatever the reason is, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's doing this with the best of intentions."

"So, should I just leave it the way it is?"

“No, certainly not. As a manager, you must be empowered. There are two options to achieve this. First option: make this micromanagement an issue and take it up with your boss’s boss. The second option is to make your boss see that what he's doing is pointless and unnecessary".

I paused here for a few seconds to make Rakesh absorb what I said. I then continued, "I do not prefer the first option - it could end up being political, it might establish you as an immature manager, it may cause you unnecessary stress. Let us proceed with the second option”.

“Sure”

"Just think about the typical questions he asks every team member in the team meeting. Also, take note of the tasks he assigns you after every meeting. By combining both, you can come up with a pattern on what he wants as status. If you want, I can help you with the analysis after you have recalled and documented all those questions and task assignments.”

“Siva, I get what you are saying. I can do the analysis myself. If required, I’ll just have a quick review with you after my analysis."

“Great Rakesh. After you've gathered all the status items your boss wants, take an unbiased view and pick out the ones that make sense. Make sure you include those parameters in your weekly report. In addition to this, you do a 10-minute status update meeting with him every two days. In those meetings, you give a verbal update of high priority items. You'll start seeing the micromanagement go down in a couple of weeks, if his intent is genuine. Can you guess the reason?”

“I think I got it. Providing regular verbal updates would convey to him that I am in control of the project. And, once he sees those additional status items in the formal weekly report, he will figure out that he gets what he wants without his presence in team meetings."

“Exactly. In addition to this, I suggest that you also learn from those additional status items – what you were missing earlier, why you were not considering them critical. Apply that learning from now on."

“Sure Siva, this is a very useful conversation. I feel relieved.”

“All the best, Rakesh. Let me know the progress after a week or two. One more thing - these changes will improve your working relationship with your boss. Once you get comfortable, you can also ask for his feedback and work on fine-tuning your management skills.”

“Sure, thank you.”