How to Deal With the Micromanager Boss

The thing I loved most about my first experience with a chronic micromanager was him telling me, day one, that he wasn't a micromanager. 

It took me exactly one business day and about 15 one-liner emails to find out I was absolutely dealing with a micromanager. Spoiler alert: I lasted six weeks—and it felt like six years. 

When starting out in a new job, things can be fresh and exciting. You're in a brand-new workplace and the possibilities are endless. There's nobody better at dead-ending that feeling than the old micromanager. 

When your bad boss is a micromanager, your growth will stall. 

Let's dive into the psychology of a micromanager, the difference between great feedback and superfluous feedback, and how you might get through to your busy body boss. 

What is a Micromanager?

Micromanager has become a buzzword, but for all the wrong reasons. More than it being a workplace trend, micromanagement is the assigned name to the thing we had always known about some bosses. 

We typically called micromanagers things like annoying, obsessive, overly detail-oriented, and, okay, a few names I can't type out in this article. 

Micromanagers might have the best intentions, but their behavior destroys everything—team morale, productivity, creativity, and self-motivation. 

The thing that micromanagers lack is trust—trust in themselves, their employees, and a general trust that the world will go on spinning regardless of their contributions to an email thread or a client pitch.  

This lack of trust usually has a close cousin, which is a lack of confidence. So, while your micromanager may seem like the biggest know-it-all on the planet, they are typically suffering from a lack of confidence, which is why they can't help looking over your shoulder. 

The Psychology of Micromanagement 

This is the part where we try to make you feel a little sympathy for the micromanager. Don't hate us, we have to at least try. 

We're going to remind you that your boss is a human, even though you suspect they are covered in lizard skin underneath their clothes. Micromanagers are experiencing a deficit in one way or another. 

Some common issues that cause micromanagement include: 

Basically, if you were going to create a "Boss Soup", these are all of the ingredients you would not want to include in the broth. 

Through this article, we are going to look at common signs of micromanagement. We'll figure out a few ways to assuage the problems micromanagers experience so that we can all get back to work. 

Here's the question: Can you micromanage a micromanager? 

10 Tell-Tale Signs of a Micromanager

An article by Gallup poses this question when it comes to micromanagement: 

If you're able to answer "boss-obsessed" without a moment of hesitation, it's likely that you have a micromanager problem. 

Effective management exists when managers offer feedback and actionable ways for employees to improve their performance or workflow. Micromanaging, on the other hand, undermines any progress.

And, to the micromanagers reading this, your work style has been proven ineffective by various studies.  

One such study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, in 2011. It showed people working while they believe they are "being watched" consistently underperform.

Here are a few signs that you have a micromanager problem. 

1. Micromanagement Breeds Teamwide Insecurity and Hesitation

Just like anything contagious, micromanagers' close eye creates an environment of insecurity, hesitation, and maybe even worse. 

In a "boss-obsessed" workplace, you might even find a bit of an "eat-or-be-eaten" mentality from other coworkers. Intense micromanagement breeds distrust—in oneself and the entire team. 

A survey published in author Harry Chambers’  My Way or the Highway showed that 85 percent of respondents felt that their morale was negatively impacted due to experiencing micromanagement.

Employees who felt micromanaged also reported:

2. Micromanagers Cause Bottlenecks + Small Tasks Take Forever

This is maddening. 

If you've ever collaborated on a project with a micromanager, you know to add 50 percent to the deadline. Nothing ever happens on time. 

Micromanagers severely prolong and bottleneck projects. In the end, when you're up against the deadline, you can bet you'll be burning the midnight oil to complete a task that should have been finished weeks ago. 

3. Micromanagers Love Excessive Supervision 

"I hope I, an adult human, can be humiliated by my boss today!"

A 2018 LinkedIn article by Maktuno Suit begins with this haunting line, "My old job took a screenshot of my monitor every five minutes. The owner would go through them daily to ensure I was working.”

Excessive supervision is basically the hallmark of a micromanager. It's the emails, slacks, "quick calls", and the last-minute emails. In more extreme situations, like Suit's, it could even mean employee monitoring. 

It's seemingly innocuous comments (which you know are anything but innocuous) like, "That dentist appointment Thursday afternoon took a long time, huh?" 

Another way that micromanagers love to step in is by scheduling meetings! Yes! Micromanagers love a meeting, especially one scheduled at 5 pm. Having meetings for the sake of having meetings is the enemy of quality work. 

4. Micromanagers Love Documenting Everything (to the Detriment of Actual Work) 

Just like the excessive meetings, have you ever had a boss who wanted everything documented to the point of confusion? 

It's becoming increasingly obvious that the entire workforce does things just because "it's the way it's always been done" (ahem, 5-day workweek) but that doesn't mean it's the right way or that it's not a complete waste of time and energy. 

Processes are great. Having steps documented is a great way to CYA and make sure there's a paper trail for everything. However, when over-documentation starts happening, it takes away from the real work. 

5. Micromanagers Often Lack Reasonable Boundaries 

The more you allow a micromanage to blur the boundaries, the more they will. If the constant check-ins also happen on Saturday afternoons, you likely have a micromanager—and one without any boundaries. 

My micromanager boss used to email me at my work address, my personal address, and—if he didn't hear back (ON A SATURDAY)—give me a quick call or text! Micromanagers tend to believe that a paycheck is an ample exchange for 24/7 access to you. They would be wrong. 

Boundaries are important. If your boss cannot respect them, they might be a micromanager. 

6. Micromanaged Workplaces Experience High Turnover

There's the saying about how employees don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. High turnover usually is an additional symptom of a workplace ruled by a micromanager. 

If new team members arrive at the office only to hit the highway in a few months' time, it's not good. Micromanager tendencies are huge red flags—and they usually manifest on day one. If employees aren't "down" with this so-called management style, they're going to leave. 

7. No Growth and No Innovation 

Have you ever started a new job with the best intentions only to find out you weren't hired for your true purpose?

While micromanagers are busy monitoring employees' ins and outs, obsessing over deadlines, and chasing unimportant details, meaningful work is likely not happening. Rather, you're bandaging up small mistakes, redoing things according to how your micromanager likes them done—and learning nothing in the process. 

Your best work shouldn't be done out of a fear of failure. It should be conceived and executed under empowering leadership—not a police state. 

Without growth and innovation, what is the point of working at all?

8. Constant Need for Ego Moments  

We've already explored how many micromanagers experience a mixture of anxiety, lapses in confidence, and an overall need to control all situations. 

In human psychology, it's always shocking when fear of failure manifests as over-confidence. Some micromanagers also really need their egos stroked—a lot. If your boss likes to scrutinize or nitpick on minute details to feel better, you probably have a micromanager. 

Now that we've gone through these common symptoms of a micromanaged workplace, can we figure out a compassionate way to go forward? Should we even try? 

How to Deal With a Micromanager 

Nobody wants to go head-to-head with their boss. It's risky.

However, it's unacceptable to endure this type of behavior on repeat. It takes a serious toll on our mental, physical, and emotional health. 

Suppose you love your job, your coworkers, and everything is going well. The only problem is your micromanager. It'd be a shame to quit your job when there's only one person getting in the way of your truly shining. 

If this is the case, consider talking to your micromanager—preferably in their own language. There might be a way to converge your work style with that of your micromanager.  

How to Have a Trust-First Conversation with a Micromanager 

Consider also what your micromanager subconsciously wants. What is the micromanager's Kryptonite? 

It's trust. With trust, a micromanager might be able to relinquish control of every detail. 

Create a situation wherein you can show your manager that you can be trusted and that you understand what they might need from you. Now make the tweaks so that it works for both of you—and for the entire team. 

Come prepared with a plan to reduce micromanaging, increase trust— all while keeping channels of communication open (with boundaries, of course).

1. Create a Solution 

Before meeting with your micromanager, create a solution-based plan for how you can proceed—preferably with a plan that could leave you both feeling at ease to go forward. 

Some things you might suggest are weekly 1:1 catch-ups, weekly dedicated email summaries, or investing in project management software that allows everyone to check-in and communicate without taking time from their days.  

2. Request a Meeting With Your Boss 

Now that you have your plan (or plans) in place, shoot a quick email to your boss to set up a time to talk about streamlining processes between the two of you. 

We created this script to get you started:

When proposing changes, make sure to keep your language solutions-based. We know how frustrating a micromanager can be, but they are still humans. It can be hard to believe at times, but it's true. 

Don't use accusatory language. Instead of saying, "You always interrupt my work," try something like, "I think the team could work faster with a shared documentation process." 

In his micromanagement manifesto, Suit advises, "Set up and formally agree on regular supervisory spaces where they can appraise your work; this then becomes a mutual agreement that you can encourage them to adhere to."

3. Follow-Up With Improvements 

If your micromanager agreed to your suggestions, congratulations. 

You can "return the favor" by periodically offering unsolicited updates, important milestones, and the kinds of status updates you know they love. 

If step two really isn't for you—because you hate anything that might be perceived as confrontation—you might skip straight to this step. Start by sending unsolicited updates, requests for input, and follow-ups on existing projects. 

Anticipate what they might ask and build it into your day. Rather than anticipating an annoying email at the 11th hour, over-communicate at the end of your day. 

It will keep your micromanager informed without them hovering all over you.