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Fighting Paranoid and Incompetent Micromanagers (PIMM) and Control Freaks

Using aquido principles to survive
hand-to-hand fights with PIMM and other corporate psychopaths

"Land of Oz" metaphor suggests that bad bosses fall into three groups: the boss with no brains; the boss with no courage; and the boss with no heart: the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man. But the older I get, the more aware I become of simple but nasty fact that a significant subset of management types fall in the category not covered in the "Land of Oz": micromanagers and its extreme variants often called control freaks.  Those "M-word" individuals are special type of corporate psychopath and as such are extremely dangerous.  The differences between them and criminals are pretty superficial -- both are people without any remorse and "my way or highway" as the main guiding principle.

Micromanagement is perversion of management and for some unknown reason it is more common among female managers then man.  Appropriate activities such as monitoring, reporting, and requiring approvals—when taken to extremes—begin to detract value, impede performance, and negatively impact process efficiency. One size does not fit all and method acceptable for highly structured environment and with novices are unacceptable when working with seasoned IT professionals. That means that what is micromanagement in one area can be reasonable management in another and vise versa. Micromanagers are generally are characterized as people with weakened self-esteem, injured narcissism and paranoid tendencies. They are preoccupied with power.

Note 1: Paranoid incompetent micromanagers (PIMM), who successfully combine tight control of minute details/procedures used in performing assignments with toxic incompetence are often called "control freaks" (CF). This category of corporate psychopaths represents really nasty beasts of IT jungles who tend to completely paralyze their victims.  They are completely different from PHB on Dilbert cartoons and in many way are close to narcissistic managers.

In this set of pages that include

• Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks
• Fighting Paranoid Incompetent Micromanagers and Control Freaks
• Documenting Micromanager Behavior
• Communication with Corporate Psychopaths
• Coping with the toxic stress in IT environment
• The micromanagement-induced anger trap

we will mainly address this menace. 

Note 2: Good advice about the topic is difficult to come by and depends on your concrete situation: take any recommendations with a grain of salt.

Still to preserve your dignity you need to fight it. Like any fighting, fighting micromanagers involves two levels: strategic and tactical.

• On strategic level you try to lessen paralyzing grip and compensate for lost freedom (it's an office not a jail ;-).  You key task here is find allies and forge alliances both on horizontal level (among subordinated -- remember that micromanagers try to isolate each other) and of vertical (among his/her pears, which will make it more difficult for micromanager to smokescreen his/her failures) that permit you to counterattack and possibly defeat the jerk. In a healthy organization you have some chances to defeat micromanagers. The problem is that most current IT organizations are deeply unhealthy and as such provide a fertile ground for management pathologies including micromanagement. Anyway you cannot do much alone and forget about informing about the problems HR without strong allies who know about the situation and who approved the move.  Without alliances you are doomed.
   
• On tactical level you try to navigate treacherous waters of verbal exchanges with micromanager and avoid typical traps (most of micromanagers are pretty primitive and the ticks they used can and should be studies, classified and for each countermeasures can be found. For example a good countermeasure for excessive performance related feedback is spamming micromanager with overly detailed reports and superficially relevant maturities while withdrawing most of relevant or important for decision making information (total withdrawal is dangerous and easily detected).  This is pretty safe and effective countermove that even brings you some sense of moral satisfaction and performed perfectly).

But a good fight needs verbal skills and that's an up-the-hill battle anyway. There are three simple rules of fighting control freaks:

1. Like in any war your survival is not guaranteed.  All discussions of strategy and tactic are good and useful but only to a certain extent. First of all everybody consider yourself  Carl von Clausewitz level strategist observing the fight from a distance but very few can stage a good fight.  It's one thing to read all those thoughtful or stupid recommendations and the other fight those exhausting day-to-day-battles with a control freak. And like in any war this is not only front line battle. The main battle is actually about supply lines. The strength on your network is as important as your communications skills and ability to withstand pressure (front-line skills).
    
   • All the reading in the world cannot  immunize you from the devastating effects of psychopaths. Like for any solder on front lines after a while your emotional health will suffer and you will have problem to switch from the incidents at work to normal living.
      
   • The first sign of this effects are usually troubles with sleeping.   Immersing yourself in hobbies might help but the damage to your health  is unavoidable. In a long run family life usually suffers too.
      
   • According to Professor Hare "Corporate psychopaths tend to be manipulative, arrogant, callous, impatient, impulsive, unreliable and prone to fly into rages".   Such behaviors with you as an object take toll on your health too.  He talked about the pain and suffering the corporate rogues had inflicted on thousands of people.  Some of those victims would succumb to heart attacks or commit suicide, he said.
      
   • Psychopaths succeed in conventional society in large measure because few of us grasp that they are fundamentally different from ourselves. We assume that they, too, care about other people's feelings. This makes it easier for them to "play" us. Although they lack empathy, they develop an actor's expertise in evoking ours. While they don't care about us, "they have an element of emotional intelligence, of being able to see our emotions very clearly and manipulate them," says Michael Maccoby, a psychotherapist who has consulted for major corporations.
      
2. Your social skills = your combat skills. Start improving them immediate and put as much money on this activity as necessary. Never overestimate your own social skills and underestimate social skills of PIMM.  Social skills, especially communication skills, are the weapons on the battle field and  they by-and-large predetermine that the results of your confrontations with PIMM. You better be prepared. That means that you need start immediately and continue relentlessly train yourself and strive for improving your communication skills dramatically.
   
   Such terms as "negative politeness", "emotional distance", "defection", "self-control" should became well known and fully understood ASAP.  Study literature about OCD and paranoia. Most micromanagers suffer both from OCD and paranoia. You need to understand those two pretty well to preserve your emotional help. the danger to it is very real.  BTW alcoholism and drug addiction are also closely related to OCD and you are now can well related to feeling of family member of alcoholics.
   
   Paranoia is such a prominent trait of most micromanagers that studying literature about the topic immensely helps to understand PIMM behavior and by extension to fight them. For example attacks on others are often used by PIMM as an attempt to alleviate interpersonal anxiety by conquering, defeating and dominating others. An excessive need to control one's surroundings is typical of paranoiac personality.
   
   That's like building armament industry in a conventional war: without it you soon be without weapons and ammunition. And just desire to fight is not enough. You cannot stop tanks with bare hands.
    
3. Get out as soon as possible but not sooner.  If you like you job and the current salary this might as painful as a divorce but unless you are sure that you can outlast PIMM leaving might be better then staying. Be careful to differentiate between what is a real oasis of opportunity and a mirage in a desert. Possibility of long unemployment stretch as well as running out of money, compounded by the continued discomfort of not knowing when you get a new job makes "emotionally dictated exit" really stupid. Please be aware that in such a situation any other job opportunity looks nicer that it really is. The result might be a false start -- jumping into a position that is some respects can be worse that your current situation.

It is important to know that micromanagers are often females and that the majority of victims are also females.  In Lovefraud Blog  post  When women are sociopaths-psychopaths the author aptly noted:

There is actually very little research data available regarding sociopathy in non-criminals and in women. The little research that has been done reveals that sociopathy in women entails two or three main features that are similar to those found in men. Namely, female sociopaths lack empathy and enjoy manipulating and exploiting others. Violent and impulsive behavior is less common in sociopathic women. This fact may make them more dangerous, as they more easily blend in with the rest of society.

The key traits of sociopathic females

A recent study of adolescent girls in detention performed by Crystal L. Schrum, M.A. and Randall T. Salekin, Ph.D. of the University of Alabama and reported in Behavioral Sciences and the Law, revealed the core qualities that best described young female sociopaths. The teens were callous and lacked empathy, had a grandiose sense of self worth and were conning and manipulative. They were also likely to engage in impersonal sexual relationships. Importantly, the researchers revealed that female sociopaths did not necessarily have “shallow emotions.” Again the lack of impulsivity and shallow emotions may make a female sociopath more difficult to spot.

... ... ...

The case of Michelle Drake also illustrates something else about female sociopaths. The courts are more likely to go easy on them. This attitude of the courts may reflect the fact that many people excuse the behavior of female sociopaths and feel sorry for them. Look at the cases of women in the news lately. We don’t know if the women involved are sociopaths, however, these cases do illustrate the double standard that exists in how we judge female as opposed to male antisocial behavior. Several women teachers have been found guilty of sexually exploiting students. They were treated very leniently for the same crimes that would have put a man in jail for many years.

As Scott Berkun aptly noted:

The best advice for having a bad manager is to seek other employment. Don’t undervalue your happiness: it’s impossible to be happy if you work directly for someone you can’t stand. It may be difficult to find another job, but if you are willing to make compromises in other areas (salary, position, project, location, etc.) it will certainly be possible. Being happy and underpaid is a much better way to spend a life than unhappy and anything else.

Making life changes, even progressive beneficial ones, is difficult and leaving a bad manager might require weeks or months of less than pleasant living. However, on the other side of any decision to leave is something you can’t get where you currently are: the possibility of a good manager, and the sanity that it will bring you. The “never quit, tough it out” attitude is a mistake if you are in a situation that can never result in your satisfaction. I think the act of finding a new job, or even quitting before you've found one, can be a way to take more control. It puts you back at center of your life, where you belong. There are risks involved, but it puts you, and not your manager or company, at the center of them.

But for the sake of this essay I’ll assume that you are either unwilling or unable to leave. Maybe you’re looking for something new and have to endure a bad manager until you’ve found it, or perhaps your family is heavily dependent on you and your options are limited. That’s fine. Just remember to re-read the first paragraph every month or so to make sure you’re considering all your choices, and not hiding behind the deceptive safety of a merely acceptable job, when what you need is something more.

You also need to trim down your expectations. Expect as a minimum the following:

• You never have complete authority to do what it was you were hired to do.
   
• Each step of the work you were hired to do will be dictated by your boss or his/her hired guns.  Expect after that that they will be dissatisfied with the results :-)
   
• Your boss sometimes can behave like an wild animal. Females psychopaths are less prone to this they just enjoy inflicting pain on others. 
   
• In crisis, they will be  breathing down your back and block all useful measures you suggest. After that they will make you a space goat. 
   
• You will be completely bogged in useless documentation (that was the exact situation in the USSR before its dissolution so in a way this is a return of good old Brezhnev Socialism in the new form  with the requirements of formal piety in the style "Viva Developed Socialism, Viva Leonid Brezhnev"; the latter actually help to create pretty nasty anecdotes about the leadership which are told behind their backs ;-). Typical examples include but are not limited to the area of performance feedback. A micromanager tend to require constant and detailed feedback and tends to be excessively focused on procedural trivia rather than on overall performance, quality and results. Writing "Status reports from hell" is now you second specialty or you will be eaten alive. 
   
• Your boss must approve everything. You might feel like your boss is always checking up on you all the time and your life in the office is analyzed under microscope. Micromanagers are usually irritated when other make decisions without consulting them even if the decisions are totally within the subordinate level of authorities.

This page is written as a self-help material for those who need to buy some time or are unwilling or incapable to leave for some other reason.  Do not take your situation lightly. This is a war with hand combat in the trenches involved so unless you are well prepared on the level of Green Berets which should become your role model if you want to stay (training is everything here) you might be suffering post traumatic stress syndrome like many solders who went to the from line: chronic stress destroys most humans really fast. 

Some more of less plausible fighting strategies

I complied this list mainly as self-help instrument. In no way it is complete or scientific. You are warned.

1. Beware of Stockholm syndrome. Victims of especially severe abuse often "identify with the abuser" in order to survive. This means she will actually begin to agree with the criticisms and perspectives of the abuser while her own personality, opinions, and views fade to the background. This is a serious set of psychological events called the "Stockholm Syndrome."  When an abuser/controller shows the victim some small kindness, even though it is to the abusers benefit as well, the victim interprets that small kindness as a positive trait of the captor. In criminal/war hostage situations, letting the victim live is often enough. Small behaviors, such as allowing a bathroom visit or providing food/water, are enough to strengthen the Stockholm Syndrome in criminal hostage events. You situation is not the different from a criminal hostage situation and as such you are susceptible to Stockholm Syndrome. In relationships with abusers, a birthday card, a gift (usually provided after a period of abuse), or a special treat are interpreted as not only positive, but evidence that the abuser is not "all bad" and may at some time correct his/her behavior. Abusers and controllers are often given positive credit for not abusing their partner, when the target would have normally been subjected to verbal or physical abuse in a certain situation.  After seeing the wave, the victim expects to be abused again and when it doesn't happen, that "small kindness" is interpreted as a positive sign.
    
2. Know with whom you are dealing with. That sounds easy but in reality it is very difficult. Psychopath are completely different from us. The are aliens in the most exact meaning of this word. Still your best defense is to understand the true nature of those office predators, beasts without any sense of remorse for their actions:
    
   • Psychopaths are skilled at detecting and ruthlessly exploiting your weak spots.  Your best defense is to understand what these spots are, and to be extremely wary of anyone who zeroes in on them.
      
   • Every emotion they demonstrate is fake. Try not to be influenced by "props". Many people find it difficult to deal with the intense, emotionless, or "predatory" stare of the psychopath. Many people feel bad when they are constantly ignored. Also attempts of 'seduction" should be resisted: if something is too good to be true it is probably is. 
      
   • Psychopaths may apologize or show remorse only to get away with something, but in the end you will be stabbed in the back and realize how very shallow their words were. Expect that you will be stabbed in the back, sooner or later.
     
     Often one of predator patsies tries to play "good cop" and the PIMM a bad cop game.
     
     Information that you accidentally reveal will be communicated by patsies to PIMM and hurt you. Remember that with PIMM there no longer a team -- its just a pack of frightened animals.
      
   • Keep your guard in high risk situation bike PIMM outbursts. "Emotional tantrums" are actually an attack weapon. The idea is to move you off balance or just sadistically hurt you.
     
     The best defense is absence of visible reaction. Never raise your voice, slow down your speech to half of your usual pace.  Even if you are ready to scream, keep it inside. Any emotional outburst on your part will give a micromanager all he needs: the ability to fire you for insubordination.
     
     Carefully document the case: that will give you an ability to see certain patterns in PIMM behavior.  Often the set of threats is pretty stereotypical. The next time you might even smile inside seeing the same trick used over and over again.
      
   • PIMM like any psychopath also appears not to be able to remember what they had said or committed to for very long. They seem to always be living in the present and that partially explains why they cannot live up to their word. Once again, it will be you who must deal with the aftermath of all the psychopath's twists and turns, and you will be discredited as "uncooperative" by him. The psychopath will try to make himself look like a victim.
      
   • Remain calm and maintain your composure;  you must never compromise your professional integrity in dealing with micromanagers. When you lose your composure in the heat of the battle, you often say things you will regret later. A calm factual response devoid any emotions often helps to defuse a potentially volatile situation.  Most PIMM probably had more practice in verbal confrontations then you can imagine as they probably started practicing in early childhood.   Also typically IT technical specialists lack social skills and are slightly socially isolated. As such are natural prey for corporate psychopaths.
     
     In any way your seldom can compete with micromanagers in open confrontation. And you never should.
      
   • Be careful about power struggles.  Keep in mind that psychopaths have a strong need for psychological and physical control over others.  This doesn't mean that you shouldn't stand up for your rights, but it will probably be difficult to do so without risking serious emotional trauma.
      
   • Complaining to PIMM about micromanagement usually cause PIMM to do it even more. Don't make this elementary mistake: this is their true nature and it cannot be changed by words no matter how convincing they are. The rule is that you should be very careful negotiating or bargaining with psychopaths and never try to expose their faults. Avoidance maneuvers might be a better tactic.
      
3. Know yourself. Psychopathic PIMMs are skilled at detecting and exploiting weak spots, finding the right buttons to press. In short PIMM is a predator. Only real feelings they seem to have - the thing that drives them and causes them to act out different dramas for effect - is a sort of "predatorial hunger" for what they want.  They are good players in corporate poker and are adept in unleashing especially nasty complain or demands just before your annual performance review. They also can use flattery to "soften" you before or after attack. While not all micromanagers are created equal and in this chess party is it prudent to assume that they are skilled players who can exploit human weaknesses and have vast experience in doing so.
    
   • Always stay cool. If you get agitated you have joined the battle on their terms.
      
   • The best way to protect yourself from PIMM attacks is to prepare the positions: is avoid any unstructured or not-scheduled  contact or communication. Also don't fight each and every stupid and absurd decision; carefully pick the battles limiting them to issues that are vital.  Don't sweet the small staff. Let him punish the company for his promotion: that's a fair game.
      
   • No matter how much you hate PIMM never resorts to dirty tricks or step outside the law.  Always play by the rules -- particularly on policies regarding your attendance (including lunches) and usage of corporate hardware and services for personal needs.  Collect information but don't spy. 
      
   • Carefully protect all your notes that are not explicitly designed to be seen by the PIMM. Preferably never take them to the office: write them only late at night or early in the morning at the safety of your home. Remember that with PIMM as your manager even walls have ears.
      
   • Relentlessly train your communication and social skills. Never consider yourself more clever then the opponent. Remember that the best way to lose is to consider yourself more clever then your opponent.  Ability to write programs of sophisticated scripts does not guarantee equal measure of social skills.  They might be completely technically ignorant but in social skills they might give you a run for the money. Relentlessly train yourself in social skills and communication. That's were the battle lines are drawn.  Enroll in community college for some suitable course in psychology or sociology.
      
4. A paper trail is the most powerful weapon against micromanagers. One of the best lines of "defense" is your diligence in clarifying the progress you made and keeping a paper trail of everything that you have done in a form of "progress reports" that micromanagers love so much.  In true aquido style make this weapon against you act as the weapon against micromanager.
    
   • Consider "progress reports" to be the major battlefield where you can win or lose the battle.  Never cut corners or spare efforts in preparation of them: this is your major work assignment for day one when micromanager became your manager. Even if it is never explicitly mentioned in your objectives :-). Forget about other work that needs to be done. This is the work that needs to be done first: priority No.1
      
   • If necessary work the weekend before the meeting to make your monthly  progress report really sharp and polished weapon.
      
   • Think about sequence of progress reports as a chess party that slowly unfolds between you and the micromanager.
      
   • When you document all the assignments in your progress reports, make sure that the absurdity of some of them will be evident in retrospect to everybody.
     
     This actually created a "paper trail" of micromanager incompetence, the very train they try to avoid by not giving any written assignments.
     
     Due to this historical information even without specific critique of PIMM your progress reports are very powerful and effective in structuring your boundaries and they are should server as constant complain of any cases of trespassing those boundaries. But you need to do it in a  very subtle, diplomatic way. 
      
   • Carefully document and maintain the list of all oral, phone and indirect assignments.
     
     Document agreements. Follow-up verbal briefings, requests and agreements with an email to avoid confusion. Provide as much details as possible. If they are reluctant to write you emails to avoid paper trail, send them a follow up emails documenting assignment as soon possible.  Create and maintain the list of all (all) assignments bestowed on you each month and update it regularly. Later summarize those emails in the progress report.
      
5. Every task should have a stated measurable goal, whether it's a report, a decision or a sale, and a process and those would be explicitly identified.  
   
   Forget about doing the best work possible. Do assignments only on the acceptable level. Any success in your department strengthens PIMM position more then your position.  If you need to program something really innovative to feel yourself comfortable consider contributing your efforts to open source project.
   
   In some cases it makes sense downgrade the system to industry standard level as keeping it on higher level might required additional efforts that are better spend on preparing "defensive paperwork' like progress reports.
    
Try to put measurements in hours on any assignment to prevent abrupt changes
• If you are subject to humiliating "you did it wrong" or "this is not what I meant" attacks you might try documenting all goals for each and every assignment explicitly. Negotiate to deliver a very specific product at a very specific time. Always try to set goals that can be measured. Attack shifting direction by negotiating "change of priorities". Chambers recommends using color-coded system for your priorities. Move the most time consuming tasks to objectives and negotiate the "time issues"  that arise.
   
• Send regular updates on your progress by email to forestall surprise checkups.
   
• Never send a partially finished version of your project memos or presentations unless you want to reopen the negotiations.
   
• Hand over the deliverables on time, and stand firm on the point that you have met the deadline.  You can also try to claim that your product conforms to all stated specifications, but you need to understand that there is no such thing as "final specifications" in micromanager lexicon.  If you plan to do so ensure that you picked your battle wisely and don't sweet the small staff.
   
• Avoid direct, open fighting of your boss's suffocating grip. You will be accused along the lines: 'This person is not a team player. This person won't take supervision. This person is trying to hide something.’
   
7. Use "structured" slots like monthly progress reviews to put demands on the PIMM. Ask for copies of some documents, spreadsheets, presence on some of the meeting you chair, etc. But remember that all your requests should be constructive and they should be useful for your work. 
    
   • Try persistently to make demands on them. Each time they became especially nasty in controlling try to invent some useless meeting and insist that they should be present. By asking something of them, you will be indicating that you are not intimidated. Remember that fear and compulsive-obsessive personality disorder are two driving forces behind PIMM persistent meddling in your projects.  For some PIMMs the simple request to validate the minute of the meeting acts as a cold shower: all of them are panicky afraid of taking any responsibility. 
      
   • Make negotiating deadlines that you can meet and, especially, renegotiating priorities as time consuming as you can. This involves instigating planning discussions.
      
   • Politely but firmly give them tasks without which you activity supposedly halts to standstill and make them know that. Beware that checking of the completion of the task too often is not the point as they can retaliate and remind anything to PIMM is the action that is potentially harmful for your health. If you want to do it do it politely in email. Just create minimal pressure to escape their grip. Don't overdo it.
      
   • Make demands on them-- especially when dealing with the type control freak who like to intimidate you so that feel frustrated.  Ask them to send you something or do something for you. even minor thing is OK. If they forget remind them.  By asking something of them, you will be indicating that you are not intimidated.

     Try to treat each attempts to control the process as requests to change the end product, the act that in any reasonable business presuppose the agreement to reopens the whole negotiation.  the problem is that there nothing reasonable in PIMM. Still if this is crucial and you put a lot of efforts into meeting previous, now abandoned specifications,  don't hesitate to call the "an objective clarification meetings." If they avoid the meeting mention this in your monthly report.

     • If the end product is not affected, why change the process?
     • Keep thorough notes and bring them out when the person wants to meddle with the project.
     • Ask whether the characteristics of the project's final goal are different now.
     • If your manager says they aren't, respectfully ask why, if the goal is the same, the process to achieve it should be changed.
     • This logic is difficult for anyone to refute, even a control freak. This strategy works best when you have some history of delivering the goods on time and in a satisfactory manner.
        
   • Make such assignment list as non-threatening as possible and try to create an illusion that you care about all this BS. Always say "Thank you" and project such an impression that the micromanager feel they are “helped” you do your job. As perverse as it is, some of them really think that they are  mentoring you.  
      
   • Make sure they know the deadlines and milestone for the projects - BUT never reveal real status of things  They care about the paperwork and processes not results.  See below.
    
8. Consider dealing with micromanager to be a battle test for your communication skills. Relentlessly work on improving them from the day one. You can need all you have and more. If by change you are attacked by PIMM for having "poor communication skills" use this as a great opportunity: enroll in training as much as the company and your boss permits. Acquire all the necessary literature: this is money well spent.  Talk with people you respect for their communication abilities, invite them for lunch and try to learn from them.   I know that 's very difficult, but please try...
   
   If the manager have the second thought you can always accuse him/her is being not forthcoming in your development: after all it was him who pointed out on the fault. And this is a rather serious accusation that can help you to weaken the grip of micromanager. 
    
9. Beware of risks involved in using HR to intervene in a micromanagement problem. Micromanaging is not a problem for HR. But you can use HR to provide your documentation stating why you disagree with the end of the year assessment of your results by micromanager so that your objections can be entered into your performance record. When the time is truly right for HR to act, then you will have trail of historical information for abuse and mismanagement that will be difficult to deny. And it can be used both with inside and outside sources to take action.
    

 The same is true about upper management. Remember, micromanagers tend to hire micromanagers, so assess your boss’s boss carefully before whistle blowing. See also  Whistleblower Bill of Rights
 
10. Try to deflect rather then counter attacks. Every micromanaged employee needs to know the main principle of aikido. That's a martial art where the key is to turn an opponents force back against him with clever footwork, leverage, and ducking. Micromanager is a paranoiac person which is driven by his/her own insecurities and he/she rushes blindly with tremendous force on direct opposition. Like shark feel smell of blood micromanager automatically attack any sign of resistance. So sometimes it make sense can try mimicry and "play dead" by pretending to give up : don't fight, don't push back, don't resist. That will only make the micromanager do it harder.
    
    Fake compliance while subtlety undermining or deflecting idiotic measures and start quietly pursue your own education (getting some sort of certification ASAP is the first such measure that you should consider) can improve the situation to the extent it become more bearable.
    
    In other words try to simulate compliance while diverting part of your energy from deal-end activities dictated by PIMM to some socially useful, self-esteem enhancing activities like giving free lectures, participating in some voluntarily organization that you value or writing/supporting open source software. But never lose your guard or reveal the changes of your strategy:  do not change the frequency of meetings or communication with the boss (open avoidance is big mistake) and do not allow to be driven into measure that are illegal or can really harm the company:  micromanagers can be pretty charming it they need to got get something.  Paralysis is OK though: that's a fair price the company should pays for promoting a micromanager to its current position.
     
11. Develop and protect your company support net. This is your safety net.  Try to do free work for other departments if possible. Usually It environment is flexible enough to provide you an opportunity to help others at the expense of your department.
     
12. If you decided to quit, right timing is everything.
     
    • The rule should be "if you still need the paycheck, adopt the "when in Rome strategy". But at the same time double your efforts on creation of a plan B. 
       
    • You need carefully prepare plan B in advance. Never make an impulsive decision on the spot under the influence of emotions, even when pressure becomes unbearable. Even if your anger overwhelm you, please think about your family and your mortgage and postpone the final decision at least for a night.
       
    • After you start working on plan B never stop the work no matter whether the relationships improved or not. All PIMM are hypocrites and most of them are good actors. Most people understand that open conflict with a micromanagers is dangerous as micromanagers feels that their subordinate is threatening their control. But most people do not understand how manipulative and cruel PIMM can be: those people are very similar to a typical psychopath and like them they have no conscience.
      
      But even understanding this is not everything and situation can developed unpredictably anytime. A workable plan B is the best insurance policy for of your mental and physical health. Remember that both are threatened and this is not an exaggeration.
       
    • Your best option is to get an actual job offer in hand with another employer before situation became unbearable. By not having a back-up plan ("plan B"), you have given your abusive boss even more leverage over you because they know you have no where else to go. Having a plan B, however, creates the possibility to walk-away at any time should the pressure became unbearable or negotiation with your boss about "boundaries of control" not go right. That actually increases you negotiating power considerably both directly and indirectly. confidence is a great thing that implicitly is communicated to any partner in complex negotiations. Increase your power and have a plan B before you deal with the severe conflict.

Level two recommendations

1. Beware of the "Fundamental Attribution Error" in interpretation of the actions of your boss.  Most people have a tendency to overweight the role of what "kind" of person is on a person's actions, and underweight the social and environmental forces that influence the particular person Humans tend to attribute others motivation to much to character and inclination and too little to context. For instance, your boss might be distracted by troubles about which you know nothing. There might be dozens of scenarios like that.

   While most micromanagers have deep personality problems this factor should never be considered as a single one determining the behavior. Upper level management requests might be a factor as important or even more important and cruel and unusual behavior toward you can be just an attempt to meet requirements or follow directions from above. The  corporation as a whole might be as sick as your boss. BTW over attribution is less likely, perhaps even inverted, when people explain their own behavior. See The Fundamental Attribution Error

   "Control Freak" label might well be a form of attributional error or "dispositional bias": the tendency to perceive other’s motives or actions as indicating some inner motivational or personality trait that explains the (especially questionable) behavior, that is, sleazy, cheap…a "control freak." And of course, the face-saving inverse: we tend to personally attribute or rationalize our actions and outcomes (especially unfavorable ones) to external, mitigating and "out of our control" forces.
   
   Only careful documentation and "post factum" analysis of events can reveal real set of traits and dominant modes of attack of particular corporate psychopath.
    

2. Do a little side project of your own using free time, for example some write or assume ownership on so open source software development project or help with documentation of the open source project you use, etc. There is a lot to learn in this world, and you probably have an Internet connection at your desk. If you sick and tied of programming write a novel about your expertise. who knows may be you are closet Leo Tolstoy and can became rich this way.  If you do something productive in your free time, you will be less vulnerable to attacks on your self-esteem and you will not sweet the small staff like in a typical situations when boss by changing direction destroys all or large part of  your previous work or when he by over-controlling you make you less or zero productive.
    

3. Beware of any attempt to talk "openly and honestly" with PIMM. It is highly unlikely that you are going to change your boss or restrain him/her. Remember the fairy tall about three little pigs.  You are a little pig who goes to the open to negotiate with a wolf.
    

4. Keep your private copies and CD-based backups of all valuable data including all progress reports as well as and paper copies of major emails that might be needed if you eventually decide to go to court or to arbitrage.  That might  take up some of your time but this is a necessary safety measure; you also will have less time to worry about yet another abrupt change of direction of the project or other work problem. 
   
   The person being micromanaged must create documentation that quantifies work being done to provide detailed information later to refresh the memory of the micromanager. The quantified information should not be used to attack the micromanager using HT as a Trojan horse, but as a defense against unfair job evaluation only. HR is an instrument of management and will always be it.
    
5. Try to attack their tendency of avoidance of the responsibility by providing "total feedback papertail". That might slightly lessen their grip if you can exploit overload, although your mileage can vary:
    
   • Document any conflicting instructions and assignments, many PIMM dislikes giving instructions in writing; there are some that like to transmit instructions via patsies. In this case always fire a email that documents what patsy told you to do and ask to corrections.  PIMM only real goal is to stay in power however necessary and avoiding responsibility to their actions is a part of the game. Having documentation about abrupt changes of the course can help you in the future as in case of failure or problem any your statement about exact instructions will be severely contested. Write the history  like early historians did: facts and facts only.
      
   • Track and carefully document all emotional outbursts as well as unfair accusations  and abrupt project reassignments.
      
     • Try to camouflage the danger to micromanager of your reproduction of his assignments in emails by sugarcoating it. For example sending email about the assignments communicated via patsies you can write something like "I wrote down this in order to  keep track of the detail of this assignment  because it's important for me to understand it correctly."
        
     • At worst, when sh**t hits the fan, you must have a verified tack of evidence to support your claim: "I've been micromanaged to death and here's the proof. " Of course this should used only when things turn really ugly. 
        
   • Collect intelligence but never spy on the person.  Among useful questions:
     • What is actual level of formal education of this person
     • What are the companies s/he was employed before. You might have common colleagues.
     • Keep in mind that psychopaths often lie in their resume and misrepresent their previous positions, education, salary history, etc.
        
6. Fully exploit the fact that micromanager cherishes the constant flow of updates and reports. It leaves in artificial world of paperwork that has nothing to do with the reality.  Use email to the fullest extent possible, but remain constructive.
    
   1. Never spare them of  information that is relevant to the project you performs. Let them enjoy full information they so desperately want. The flow of emails often acts as sedative for many PIMM creating an illusion that they are in  full control of the situation.
       
   2. This also serve in implicit goal to increase the load on PIMM so that s/he  has less time to overcontol all you activities.
       
7. Use calculated avoidance maneuver but remember that keeping a micromanager at a safe distance is  extremely difficult and somewhat dangerous.
    
   • Never accidentally drop into the PIMM office. This is a torture camera; ask yourself whether it makes sense going to this spot voluntarily.
      
   • Some rare contacts in hallway might be beneficial but should be limited to non-job related trivia like car in the parking lot with broken window, bad weather, accident of route 888, etc. “If you bump into them, be polite, you can’t let them think you’re avoiding them on purpose,”
      
   • Remember to have regular scheduled "progress report" meeting and be prepared to each of them ( (monthly is probably optimal schedule). Regular "progress report" meetings not only ensure you and your boss are on the same page, it also alerts you to changes on the landscape. Also you have better chances to stay cool during some abrupt last moment changes in project objectives if this happen just once a month. You need to spend considerable time preparing for them.  Plan this time in advance.
      
   • Sometimes disappear in the lab or other site. But be aware that it can backfire. Meter your absence.
      
   • Try to remain as non-confrontational as possible. Lit a candle in the church and pray that  God will end this hardship some time in the future. While relying on God, do all the necessary steps to find a new position.
      
   • Do not volunteer information not related to your projects and assignments: you just attract the attention like sharks are attracted by blood. 
      
8. Practice meetings Jujutsu
    
   • During meetings let them control the agenda, but as a countermove concentrate on controlling the  pacing. If you stay calm and speak twice slowly that you usually do, you will be in command of the pacing of the conversation.
      
   • Pay attention to the pace of your speech. Use watches or other technical means. The normal tendency is to gear up and as anger fly people start to speak more rapidly. This is a major trap you should avoid: it  just make chances of some undesirable verbal exchange higher. Also people tend to  personalizing the situation more is as they speak more about it. Slow speech help to view the whole situation more objectively (might be not a big deal after all) as well as avoid costly mistakes like  letting your anger to drive your responses.
      
   • Stay calm during the meeting no matter what. Never raise the voice. If situation became hot go and get  the coffee or tee and sip it during the meeting. micromanagers tend to generate a lot of tension in those around them but drinking tend to slightly dissipate the built tension. Try to maintain a comfortable distance and instead of confronting their stupid plan start thinking immediately about the best way of sabotaging them.
      
   • Focus on your breathing. As you get more agitated and demanding, breath slowly and deeply two to three time. If you stay calm and focused, this often has the effect of relaxing them as well. If you get agitated you have joined the battle on their terms. Maintain your breezing pace.
      
   • Pay attention to induced emotional reactions;  delay your reaction and limit it to home and friends not connected with your work.  Never give away your anger at office. You can buy a punch bug and gloves, put PIMM face on it and hit it with it as hard as you can at the privacy of your basement :-)  This is classic Japanese  technology of alleviating anger that micromanagement generates. This also might be a good exercise after a day of work with micromanagers.  Consider checking 5 things before saying something:
     • is this polite
     • in this professional
     • in this non-confrontational
     • in this non-threatening
        
   • Never try to negotiate the delegation. There is no such thing in PIMM life. Use your superior knowledge and if necessary subvert the authority and resources to grab little breezing space.
     • Avoid discussion crucial issues that you might be able to decide yourself later without PIMM involvement. 
        
     • If it is not appropriate for you to accept delegated tasks try to delegate it further to dilute responsibility.  It's a dangerous maneuver, so tread lightly here.
        
   • Never try to kill them with kindness. This is self-defeating strategy and they only increase their demands. Keep a safe distance from the jerk. Avoidance is a better coping strategy. See above.
      
9. You can try to get the status of a lackey, but a protected one. In this case try to be proactive without taking credit. Give ideas but don’t push them. If the boss acts on your idea a month later and takes it as his or her own, be grateful. But few people can adapt to whatever the boss wants. This old-fashioned, 1950s "Company Man" view of the world is obsolete. Micromanagers are sometimes too much even for sycophants.
    
10. When overwhelmed with anger and resentment try to remember, the essential need of a control freak is not to crush you but to defend himself against anxiety and insecurity. The latter usually it's a reflection of the manager's own shortcoming. Although it may not be apparent to you when they are making their demands, these individuals are usually fighting off a deep-seated sense of their own helplessness and impotence. By becoming proficient at trying to control other people, they are warding off their own fear of being out of control and helpless.
     
    • Consider control freak behavior to be not so much directed on you as his/her an anxiety management tool.  That helps to avoid anger. Be always aware about PIMM deep sense of insecurity. It seems that compulsive controlling is dictated by their own deep sense of  security (usually well-founded: most of them are incompetents).  If you tale into account this fact it is easier to survive emotional outbursts and unreasonable demands: look at PIMM as a sick person who badly needs treatment and anger management therapy. 
       
    • In any power-related encounter, the control freak has a lot at stake in prevailing. While trying to hold a conversation and engage them in some way, their emotional stakes involve their own identity and sense of well-being. Being in control gives them the temporary illusion and sense of calmness. When they feel they are prevailing, you can just about sense the tension oozing out of them. Deceive them -- pretend dead why in the background sabotage all their efforts. Procrastination or "Italian strike" (working by "following the rules to the letter") and complaining about difficulties (there always difficulties in IT) is a good tool if used wisely. In moderate doses it is almost undetectable. 
       
    • Remember that the control freak is very frightened; never attempt to undermine his/her self-esteem unless you are painted into the corner.  Even in this case it is better calmly provide all the collected documentation to HR and quit.   Part of their strategy is to induce that fear in you with the subtle or not so subtle threat of loss. Pretend it work. Since the emotional stakes are so high for them, they need to assert themselves with you to not feel so helpless. To relinquish control to them is tantamount to being victimized and overwhelmed.
       
11. Imitate kindness and forgiveness without lowing the level of your guard. Do no not need to be openly hostile while collecting stones: all information about their anger attacks and tantrums should be carefully recorded and maintained ready for HR but your demeanor and communication should always be strictly professional  Remember that within most micromanagers is a good measure of paranoia.  They can read you very well and unless you masquerade this by calmness you might be unpleasantly surprised by preemptive actions micromanagers take.
     
12. Beware micromanagers lackeys.  One common micromanagers survival strategy is to surround themselves with staff members who mirror their personality and work style. Getting one of two patsies and communicating via them is a typical strategy. They are serve as control freak informers.
     
    • Always maintain political correctness. Never try to be witty or sarcastic, or you will pay the price.  This is why companies need the probationary periods in employment contracts for managers that allow for ending of the contract at (or during) those periods for ANY reason.
       
    • Never criticize your boss behind his back. Micromanagement is the trademark of insecure bosses. The grapevine and gossip has never solved any boss problems only increases insecurity.  But forget about attempts of honest or sincere communication: they are doomed too.
       
    • If nothing help protects your integrity by giving them warnings by changing behavior abruptly.   Trying to convince the Control Freak of anything might not have any affect whatsoever.
       
13. You can make it much less hurting psychologically if you consider it not a big deal. Just try to create your little private space. God sometimes test people. People survives in much harsher environment. In order to not feel degraded, humiliated and have your sense of self and self worth assaulted, you need to avoid taking this too seriously. This after all a small staff and if at the end the corporation explode in flames so be it. One stupid corporation less.
    
    
14. Expect that PIMM lack any compassion. PIMM are usually offended by any suggestion that people under their span of control suffer under their petty dictating style.  They consider them self "mentors" or invent some other rationalization. In reality most micromanagers tend to have a obsessive-compulsive personality and their over controlling tendency just reflect this abnormal personality. Most of them fear mistakes to the extent that fear paralyze them. They don't believe that work can be done without their constant intervention and not without a reason -- they are probably the most hated type of  managers in this corner office in any organization. Not only people do not want to help them, most of their subordinates can go to a great length to cause them harm.

    Personal insecurity and obsessive-compulsive tendencies are usual driving forces behind PIMM petty behavior.  This makes life unbearable for those around him. Again, PIMM will be very surprised (and even offended) when confronted with this frustrating reality. Very often the result of micromanagement is complete disintegration of the team. This creates vicious circle as this actually strengthens the perception of a micromanager, that "employees can't be trusted".
     

15. Try to communicate objective information about PIMM real level of competence in companies IT surveys, if any. But beware that sometimes anonymity is not guaranteed...

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Old News ;-)

[Jan 27, 2007] cathwarren.com - Managing Life Column

This is too superficial column, which underestimates the dangers that micromanager represents.

Q: I work for a micromanager. He even wants to see draft emails before I press the send button! How do I regain my autonomy and get him to see the benefits of backing off?

A: Autonomy is clearly a workplace hallmark. What with our history of intellectual freedom and enduring track record of tenure in the world of business, you could naturally confuse corporate Big Bro' with academia's Ivory Tower.

Institutional expectations aside, you would be wise to ask yourself: "Did I do something to deserve working for the devil?" Not so much were you a stock promoter in a past life, but have you done something on the job to reduce trust in your work? Perhaps you inadvertently emailed draft downsizing plans to your media list instead of your board list. Maybe the fact that your background checks on new hires are cursory explains why you have such a high percentage of convicted stalkers on the team.

Also, determine if the micromanagement is directed exclusively at you or if it applies across-the-board to your colleagues. Some quick tests include noting if your boss checks to see if the wastebaskets are emptied overnight or obsessively tracks the auditor's dealings with your offshore shell companies.

If nothing comes to mind, don't blame yourself. Micromanagers are people who confuse hands-on with cavity searches.

You can either refuse to bend over or beat them to the punch.

Get your leader to focus his micromanagement energy in areas where he has genuine talents. Sit down together and articulate your real needs for supervision. Specifically, you might like more scrutiny when shredding company documents or mentorship for your phone manner while desiring no oversight whatsoever when it comes to submitting your company's Form 10 to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Overload your micromanager with up-front information, draft plans and tomes of research. "Cc" him everything. In short, make your work such a flamboyantly open book that he quickly moves from titillation to saturation.

Bore him rigid. Spend his time explaining your approach and processes, preferably while blocking the doorway when he's late for a flight. Hold up a thick binder and offer to elaborate in the limo en route to the airport.

Invite loads of feedback. In fact, insist upon it. Formalize your micromanagement expectations. Create elaborate sign-off processes. Once he sees himself designated publicly as both "champion" and "proofreader" for the same project he may feel compelled to pursue deep Jungian analysis, or at least back off.

Itemize the bottom-line costs of bottlenecking using the fiscal minutiae that your leader craves. He'll soon come to see that the company could retain numerous Top Five micromanagement consultants in lieu of his contributions. Agree to do without the unnecessary expense and opportunity loss altogether, and he no longer has to forgo generally accepted accounting principles to demonstrate profit.

Think of your boss as your work-share partner. Let him know that you appreciate the valuable time he takes every day and allow that you'd be willing to help him take a load off, say, by attending the Luxemburg junket on his behalf. At the very least, offer to "spend more time with his family."

A corollary to this tactic is to delegate up, taking astute advantage of Mr. Top's obvious masochistic fantasies about actually working for you. Provide him with the rare opportunity to produce a "deliverable". Give him a deadline. When you receive his work be sure give it a perfunctory read in his presence and mutter something vague about how disappointed you are that it didn't "fulfill the brief". Let him know that he might be a better fit with another in-house team, especially if he continues taking his medication.

If it turns out that you're still feeding a black hole of neediness, redirect your micromanager. Turn him on to others in your organization who thrive on oversight. Introduce him to corporate conundrums so complex that he'll be lost in them for weeks: Is Bob's human cloning project ethical? Is casual day unnecessarily scuppering the age-old sexualization of co-workers? Sign him up for task forces and committees. Boards-of-Trade offer interminable options.

If nothing else, simply bask in the attention. More people die each year from neglect than from The Man's eternal vigilance.

Copyright Catherine Warren.

Managing Life is a weekly column published Fridays in the Vancouver Sun.

[Jan 20, 2007] Welcome to Jobnews! by Chandra Fox

May 7, 2006 (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Bullying, incompetence, power hunger, harassmen and privacy invasion are just a few characteristics of a bad boss.

Sometimes bosses bully their employees in the hopes of achieving better results. Little do they know, that they could be doing more harm than good.

How do you deal with this? Be professional not emotional.

Have an unemotional discussion with your boss about disagreements rather than a confrontation.

Be sure to get a clear objective from your boss on tasks that are ambiguous.

Handle a tough boss with professionalism, document everything, have an objective eye on your performance and use positive reinforcement for positive behavior.

These actions should stop the behavior and allow a change to occur.

Are you constantly having to prove yourself, then not getting any credit for your hard work? Or does your boss reward your best efforts?

By Marie

May 8, 2006 10:44 AM | Link to this

I’m with Jenny. My boss is the devil and I have sold my soul to the devil because of the salary. He does have moments of niceness, but then his evil side takes over and he starts throwing phones across the room and screaming at me and everyone else for mistakes he has made. I’m usually on pins and needles waiting for him to go ballistic over something I can’t foresee or have no control over. I deal with it by being indifferent. I don’t cry over it, since I know that I haven’t done anything wrong and know that he is just insane. I do feel stress and anxiety at times though. Our company has less than 10 people, so he constantly reminds everyone here that normal labor laws (harassment, etc.) don’t apply to us.

By G

May 8, 2006 11:37 AM | Link to this

Neither one. He’s just a good boss, and I’m grateful to have him.

I’ve never had a boss who’s a saint, but I have had a few demons over the years. Micromanagement, utter lack of trust in anyone other than themselves, total humorlessness, arrogance, utterly uncaring about the effects of their decisions on others, letting their emotions rule their decision-making instead of logic, and so on.

Decent human consideration for workers makes for loyalty and employees who’ll go the extra mile. Idiots who only see workers as commodities to be managed ignore the motivation factor at their own peril.

[Jan 20, 2007] Rex

When it comes to the movies, some of the worst examples of bad bosses have been women.

In the 1980s, Sigourney Weaver played the ruthless Katharine Parker, who steals her employee's idea in Working Girl. Demi Moore's portrayal of a vengeful, lying Meredith Johnson in 1994's Disclosure made some men fearful of a sexual harassment claim.

More recently, Meryl Streep played a pitchfork-less but equally evil magazine editor in the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Her white hair and icy demeanor matched her when-hell-freezes-over demands.

[Jan 20, 2007] Women Managing Women Problem Areas Women Leaders Encounter by Nan Mooney

Mar 01, 20060 (inc.com)

... ... ...

Banning the Micromanager

Many women abandon the traditional corporate world because they're sick of a macho work culture where they have to do twice as much to prove themselves while someone's always looking over their shoulder waiting for them to screw up. But once on our own, it can be difficult to relax these hyper-vigilant standards. This can be especially true with your own business, where everything that goes out the door has your name attached. But you're going to have to learn to let go.

We'll assume you've hired competent, innovative women to work under you. If you insist on supervising every last detail, you're sending the message that you don't trust them to handle anything on their own. That's a sure way to breed apathy, or even worse, resentment. Because women are often more attuned to relationships and more sensitive to feedback, they can be especially prone to interpreting your micromanaging as criticism. It's worth the risk to give them some autonomy and even allow them to make the occasional mistake. They'll work harder if they feel like their input matters

[Jan 16, 2007] First Gentleman - RFL Leading up - when you're being micromanaged

Friends,

Last week I addressed RFL to the micro-manager that lurks within each of us.  I offered some suggestions to help managers bring out their employees' best through expecting good things, listening, and seeking win-win approaches.  I promised I would write this week through the eyes of the frustrated person who feels micromanaged in their work.  Is there anything they can do to lead their boss to a more productive approach?

I suggested last week, that managers should not kid themselves with either of these thoughts: 

(a) "I never micromanage," because almost all of us do it, or

(b) the "only reason I manage so tightly is because my employees just can't do it right." 

Such denials and self-fulfilling prophecies keep bosses from seeking ways that they can bring more out of their workers.  Looking "up" at the micromanager also easily brings its self deceptions.  For instance, we tell ourselves that our boss knows how impossible and annoying he is being, or darn it, if he doesn't know, he should!  Such statements are convenient, for they take us off the hook.  In fact, it's possible that a manager - especially a fairly young one, or one in a bureaucratic or fear-oriented culture - has never been told how stifling his or her behavior is.  Most likely, they have some sense of it in general.  They know they're a bit "anal," or they've learned through Myers-Briggs or other personality inventories, or through 360s, that they have this tendency to over-steer.  But it is one thing to know one has a tendency to do something, and completely another to be aware of the frequency of this behavior, or see its regular occurrences.  So, step one is to be open to the realities of human nature: people often don't realize how their behavior negatively affects others.  And, of course, if we don't tell them, how can we expect they'll get better with it?

Now, I hear you saying, "Yes, and knowing human reality also means that nobody likes to be criticized, so if we tell the emperor he's wearing his birthday suit, he's likely to fight back -- to shoot the messenger!"  Yes.  There is risk.  It's that simple.  Leadership - asking people to be better, to do more, to change their habits - always involves risk.  And "leading up" means you don't have the formal authority.  So, how do you minimize the risk?  Here's an approach for your consideration.

First, as in all good leadership, share a vision.  Describe a world that your follower - in this case your boss - would likely wish to pursue.  So, you say, "George, I really think our team could produce much better for you than we are now.  And I think I could do more and better for you.  I think we have more talent than we're tapping.  I have some thoughts on how we can do better in our division."  You are doing two things here: painting a picture, a vision; and, you are thinking through your boss' eyes.  How can he not be curious?  How can he not want to know?  You wait, until he inevitably, in some form or fashion says, "You have an idea?  Tell me."

Then you have to do something hard: you have to be willing to give feedback.  And just your own feedback.   You're going to want to be like Maxwell Smart in the old TV sitcom Get Smart, when he'd say, "Go ahead and tie me up; you won't get away with it, because the entire Los Angeles police department has this building surrounded."  And of course, when his enemies in C.H.A.O.S expressed disbelief, he would finally fall back to something like, "Would you believe there are two black-belt Karate-trained grannies outside wielding automatic umbrellas?"

Speaking for others won't work: it may intimidate the boss, it may compromise your relationships with your colleagues, and you may not get their feedback right.  Instead, you have to let your reinforcements go.  You have to speak for your own self.  Period.  So, you say, "Sir, may I give you some feedback from my own experience here?"  This usually gets a cautious "of course."  And then you say, "Last week, when I was working on X, you got very involved in the details of the work.  You may well be able to do my job better than I do, sir, but there are hidden costs to it.  And I trust you enough to be honest about that."  Then share some of the cost: "Instead of just me spending 5 hours on it, we both ended up spending 5 hours."

Or, "I have a hard time attacking the job, when I think you are going to rethink or rewrite what I have done. I find myself second-guessing my work and the quality and efficiency suffer."  

Or, "When you don't give me the authority to negotiate, then the other side doesn't take the negotiation seriously, and then you'll end up having to do it all, in which case I'm not generating value for you."  Notice that each tries to describe behavior, and describe a cost.

Then just stop and listen.  You merely want to give feedback.  You don't want to win!  (See last week's on win-lose and either-or.)  You merely want your boss to think about the full consequences.  If you are trying to make him wrong, I guarantee he will NOT hear.  If he is mature enough to ask for more, then great; give more of your perspective, thoughts, ideas, suggestions.  If instead he seems to shut down, thank him for listening; perhaps he's getting it, but it's hard to admit it.  Perhaps he needs to think about it more.  Perhaps he'll tell you later that it helped, or maybe it will help but he'll never say so.  If on the other hand, he attacks, you probably want to cut your losses.

If you sense he is getting defensive - or worse, offensive in response, thank him for letting you offer the feedback.  You may now have a lot to think about; your worst expectations are confirmed.  But isn't it better to test reality, than to be confined by what may not be real?

The upside possibility is that you may run into a manager who really wants to learn and wants you to be your best.  You may have begun a really productive dialogue from which you can learn and your boss, too, can improve.  Great things can happen then.  In any case,

It takes some courage to ...

Lead with your best self,    

Dan

Daniel Granholm Mulhern
First Gentleman, Office of the Governor State of Michigan
(517) 241-0534

[Jan 14, 2007] When Your Boss Is a Micromanager by  Rick Brenner

December 5, 2001 (http://www.chacocanyon.com) What you can do is change the way you experience the micromanagement. You can cope effectively if you keep some basics in mind.

Everyone feels the pain
 

Micromanaging hurts people, and that's sad. Micromanagers are also in pain. They take on the burdens of micromanagement in a futile attempt to stop their pain. Everyone is caught in the same painful place. \

 

"The problem is never the problem — the coping is the problem." — Virginia Satir

Most micromanagers don't want your help with their micromanagement. Work on changing your own experience instead.

Since micromanagement is a way of asserting control, try to understand what your boss sees as out of control. Recall a time when you felt things were out of your control. How did you cope?
 

You still like some things about your job
 

What do you like about your job? The work? The pay? The independence you still have? Move it to the center of your work life. Celebrating it creates energy for dealing with the more difficult parts of your job.
 

You have choices
 

You can choose to work elsewhere. That choice might not be appealing, but you can choose it. If you stay, stay because staying is the best option available.

Wagner's 10 Rules of Combat By Jim Wagner

What has resulted from my observations are 10 rules that I believe are the key elements to surviving an actual hand-to-hand combat.

1. Be in good physical condition. In addition to be able to endure prolonged fights and be more resistant to injuries, being physically fit will also increase your “command presence” (a police term which means that you gain respect by appearing as a formidable foe).
    
2. Do not be devoted to any one particular fighting system or instructor.  If you are serious about reality-based training, and all you want to know is how to defend yourself, then you must diversify. Study as many fighting systems, from as many qualified instructors as you can. For example:  to be good a punching you might study boxing for six months, then move on.  To know how to fight on the ground take six months of ju jitsu and move on.  To become lethal with knives and other non-projectile weapons you need to enroll yourself in a Filipino Kali (also known as Arnis or Escrima).  Six months later go take some Israeli Krav Maga for practical street fighting techniques.  By exploiting the fundamental principles from each system, you will not ever fall into a trap of the “group think” mentality.
    
3. Keep it simple.  Without doubt, almost half of what you know can be eliminated. In real fights, when your safety is at risk, your mind and body will force you to use gross motor skills, whether you like it or not. This means that the complicated techniques you may be practicing will give way to primitive methods of survival.  If you don’t believe me, go up to someone better you full contact.  Thus, instead of wasting valuable training time practicing fany moves you will never use, become highly proficient at the few techniques that will actually work – low thrust kicks, elbow and knee strikes, eye goudging, hard-hitting closed-fist strikes, hair pulling, etc.
    
4. Train hard to fight easy.  In the American Military we have an expression, “The more you bleed in training, the less you bleed in battle.”  You must always train harder than what you may face in real life.  The average street fight lasts for 15-30 seconds, therefore you must practice “all out: for a full minute or more.  Instead of bowing to your training partner and practicing your techniques, run 2.5 kilometers first, then try them (this simulates the exhaustion of the battle).  Instead of sparring with one person, go up against two or three.  Always push yourself to the point of near exhaustion when you train.
    
5. Positive mental attitude.  The true warrior is never defeated mentally.  He or she has a grasp on what we call, “the will to survive.”  In some people it is stronger than others.  Likewise, there are cowards who would not fight if their life depended on it.  The will to survive is developed by pushing your training to the limit mentally (through role playing and increasing your pain tolerance threshold) and physically (trusting in reality-based techniques).  Of course, an actual combat experience that you may have reinforces the will to survive.
    
6. Scenario training (role playing).  It’s not enough to just know how to do fighting techniques, you must know in what context to use them.  Most martial arts schools have their students bow to one another, get I into a prepatory stance, then begin fighting.  But, this is not the way it happens in real life.  There are sudden bar fights, terrorist attacks, arguments that erupt into fighting, and the list goes on.  Therefore you have to approach at least1/3 of your training like you would as is preparing a theatre production: actors, a script, props, and a story line (the other thirds would be practicing various techniques and conditioning).  In other words, you must simulate events you are most likely to encounter as a civilian: robberies, bar fights, sexual assaults, and other modern violence.  Doing it right requires wearing the proper clothes, creating a temporary, but realistic environment, and have your actors behave in a convincing manner.  Military and police units do this all the time. It’s about time that civilian schools follow.
    
7. Practice from A to Z.  Let me start with an example.  If you are practicing knife defense you don’t just say “attack me!” then do your technique, and that’s all.  There are certain events that lead up to a knife attack, and a chain of events even after the knife attack; this is of course part of your scenario homework to know what usually takes place.  Practicing from A to Z means.
   
   a. Being aware of your surroundings before an attack
   b. Have a plan of action prior to the attack
   c. Handle the crisis (using the techniques that apply)
   d. Follow-up (escape, take the suspect into custody, simulate calling the police, treating injuries, ect.)
    
8. Dress as you fight.  Do you ever wear a business suit?  Then practice fighting in one.  Do you ever wear a heavy jacket in the winter?  Learn how to punch and ground fight in one.  Do you wear shoes or boots?  Now you get the idea.  The more you train in various “street clothes” the better prepared you will be in actual combat. For most of my courses that I teach, I make my military and police students wear everything they would wear in a real mission – minus the live ammunition and other hazardous weapons.
9. Adaptability.  True warriors are flexible, and able to change tactics with the situation.  Combat is fluid, so you can’t be burdened with wanting to throw your “favorite” techniques.  One way to learn how to rapidly adapt is to have your training partner introduce a surprise without your knowledge.  For example; you may be working on ground techniques, when suddenly your partner pulls out a concealed knife (rubber training knife) and you have to unexpectedly deal with it. Or, you could be fighting with one partner and half way through the fight another student comes into the room to help you like a Good Samaritan.  How would you coordinate your attack?
10. Aggressive Defense.  Many people think self-defense means waiting for the attacker to throw the first punch. However, if you feel at anytime you, or someone else is in danger of immediate bodily injury or death, international law states that you have the right to defend yourself.  (Check your own local laws to know your rights.  Therefore, if you have to strike first, then do it.  That’s why scenario training is important – to understand the signs of imminent conflict.  Also, during a fight you must think “do as much damage as necessary, as fast as possible” to overload the attackers senses and to stop him.  Put him on the defensive with pre-empted attack or immediate counterattack. Adopt the military mentality, “attack the attacker.”

[Jan 14, 2007] Tips for coping with a micromanager by Jeff Davis

Sept 7, 2002 (Techrepublic.com) (“Begin to document the micromanagement in writing,” she said. “If the micromanager says one thing but acts out something else, you need to document that pattern.”

According to O’Brien, when the micromanager gives you an assignment, you should follow up with an e-mail message like this: “This is my understanding of the assignment and the time line. If this is incorrect, please get back to me.”

O’Brien said that the next step is to go to human resources with your documentation. However, in O’Brien’s experience, this tactic may backfire. If the HR department intervenes, the employee may face the prospect of retaliation.

If you don’t get satisfaction from human resources, O’Brien recommends going to an outside source, such as an employee assistance program or a career counselor, to get some help and a plan to deal with the situation.

“Get your job search up and running,” O’Brien said.

She believes that working for a micromanager is a no-win situation that can adversely affect your health and your career. “Micromanagers make you feel like you never do enough,” said O’Brien. “No matter how well you think you’re doing, micromanagers make you feel like you never do anything right, and that your job is in jeopardy.”

[Jan 13, 2006] The Greentree Gazette Don't put a control freak in charge of information access.

Have you put a highly authoritarian personality in charge of your data access projects? Does he or she think it's not a good idea for anyone else to have discretionary access to information?

Data administration and data warehousing are highly collaborative endeavors. They require a "Can't we all get along," approach. A top down, hierarchical approach that discourages input from users is simply not going to work.

Hire information access people whose first instinct is to give users the data they want. Promote the person who wants to give users all available data, rather than the least that can be gotten away with.

[Jan 13, 2006] Control Freak

I’ve seen this again a few times since then and now I can characterise the symptoms.  There are some people who think that the team they are part of only includes those who are their equal in the hierarchy and their manager.  They simply don’t see themselves as part of a team with the people who work for them.

This affects all of their relationships with their team. Specifically:

• They don’t share their ideas, concerns, hopes etc
• They don’t really listen to their staff. In particular they don’t really appreciate the ideas that their staff have
• They don’t acknowledge that their staff have a role to play in the difficult work the manager is responsible for, such as contributing to strategy or politics.
• They only occasionally talk to their staff in terms of the wider picture (if at all).  Normally they deal with individuals about individual details.

This is so demoralising for the team involved, since, more than anything, this is disrespectful.  It also fragments the team, stops them seeing the bigger picture and thereby reduces their effectiveness.  It even ends up significantly undermining the manager concerned since they are refusing all the support they could otherwise get from a loyal team.

[Jan 13, 2006] AIN'T NO gOD

DOG-LIKE DOGS

Speaking of a type of authoritarians, like the principal, who want us to walk lockstep in their version of the truth—too many of them are like those pecking order people in the opening section of today’s blog entry or, like Will’s people, only too ready to surrender freedom for a comfortably conformist political order. They are authoritarian types and, thus, micromanagers. Many of them display the estimable trait of wanting to help others and so become police officers, military men, nurses, teachers and ministers. Unfortunately, the flip side of wanting to help people can become the practice of controlling them. Helpers are often controllers. "Everything in moderation," a Buddhist might say, "even moderation."

[Jan 13, 2006] Management hack The sweet spot of delegation » Slacker Manager

If you’ve got the control freak manager, then you probably won’t get anything delegated to you, but in the unlikely event that you do, and you accept it, you’ll be on a leash the whole time. The best strategy here is to set up a firm front-end agreement as to the outcome, resources and timeline. Also set up regular review meetings, no more frequently than weekly, though the exact timing will depend upon the nature of the project and just how controlling your manager is. The idea here is to provide the control freak manager with sufficient external controls that they feel comfortable letting go. If they keep bugging you, just remind them of the agreement and let them know that the two of you can discuss things at the next regularly scheduled review.

How To Deal With a Difficult Boss by Tristan Loo

Most people at some point in their lives have to deal with a difficult boss. Difficult supervisors vary in personality from being a little pushy or rude, all the way to being downright abusive. Many people feel that an abusive boss has control of their personal life outside of work by lowering their self-esteem and making them live in constant fear. The role of a supervisor sometimes attracts certain controlling-type personalities because they crave the power it gives them and because they lack such control in their own personal lives. A supervisor has complete control over your most basic human needs—your ability to put food on the table and a roof over your head. These are powerful motivating factors that allow a difficult supervisor to control people out of fear of losing these basic needs. We may not be able to always correct their behavior, but we should never have to live in fear and let our difficult boss control our lives.

Here are some strategies on handling a difficult boss situation.

1. Always have a plan B. Most people are scared about having a discussion with their boss concerning their abusive behavior because they fear reprimand or losing their job as a result of it. Their fear is usually justified if the supervisor is a control-freak and feels that their subordinate is threatening their control. Before you deal with any type of conflict, you always need to have a plan B in case things don’t work out. A plan B is the best alternative that you can come up without having to negotiate anything with your boss. In this type of scenario, your best plan B would probably take the form of having an actual job offer in hand with another employer before you have your talk. By not having a back-up plan, you have given your abusive boss even more leverage over you because they know you have no where else to go. Having a plan B, however, empowers you with the ability to walk-away at any time should the negotiation not go right. Increase your power and have a plan B before you deal with the conflict.
    
2. Never react to verbal abuse or harsh criticism with emotion. This will always get you into more trouble than you started with because it will become a war between egos and chances are good that your boss has a bigger ego than you have—hence why he is difficult in the first place. When a personal attack is made on you, they are trying to bait you into reacting emotionally because once you react, you become an easy target for additional attacks. The key then is not to react, but to acknowledge and move on. By doing this, you effectively strip all of the power behind their verbal attacks away from your abusive boss, without creating conflict. If your boss happens to be an intimidator or a control freak, then the best way of dealing with their behavior is to remain calm and acknowledge their power by saying, "I'm sorry." By saying this, you take away any chance of them lashing back at you because you have sidestepped [deflected - NNB] their verbal attack rather than meeting it head on.
    
3. Discuss rather than confront. When your boss criticizes you, don’t react out of emotion and become confrontational with them about it because that just breeds more conflict. Instead, use their criticism as a topic for discussion on interests, goals, and problem-solving and ask them for their advice. If they criticize your work, then that means that they have their own idea on how that work should be done, so ask them for their advice on how your work can be improved.
    
4. Manage the manager. A source of conflict usually occurs when a group of employees gets a new manager who demands that things run differently. These changes are usually reactionary in nature because the employees go about their regular duties until the manager comes by and criticizes the way it is being done. Instead of waiting for their criticism, take a proactive approach and be absolutely clear from the very beginning on how your boss wants things to be done so that there is no miscommunication later on. There are many ways of completing a task and having a discussion about them at the very beginning will allow you to see things from their perspective as well as sharing your own with them. Get to know their likes and dislikes inside and out so that you can avoid future criticisms.
    
5. Know that you can do little to change them. Being a difficult person is part of their personality and therefore it is a very difficult, if not impossible thing to change in a supervisor, so don’t think that you can change how they act. Instead, change the way that you view their behavior. Don’t label them as being a jerk--just merely label them as your boss. By avoiding derogatory labeling, you avoid making it easy on yourself to be angry with your boss.
    
It's better to prevent unnecessary conflict than to manage conflict once the flames have started.

Stop Creating Conflict  Click here to preview Conflict Prevention In The Workplace - Using Cooperative Communication

7. Keep your professional face on. Know the difference between not liking your boss and not being professional. You don’t have to make your boss your friend or even like your boss as a person, but you do have to remain professional and get the job done and carry out their instructions dutifully as a subordinate, just as you would expect them to be professional as do their duties as a supervisor.
    
8. Evaluate your own performance. Before you go attacking your boss, examine your own performance and ask yourself if you are doing everything right. Get opinions from other coworkers about your performance and see if there is any warrant to the criticisms of your supervisor before you criticize their opinions.
    
9. Gather additional support. If others share in your concern, then you have the power of numbers behind you to give you additional persuasion power over your boss. It is often easy for a supervisor to ignore or attack one employee, but it becomes more difficult to attack all of his employees. He might be able to fire one of you, but he will look like an idiot (and probably get fired himself) if he tries to fire all of you. An interdepartment union is a good way of mustering power against an abusive employer.
10. Don’t go to up the chain of command unless it’s a last resort. Going straight up the chain of command is not an effective way of dealing with a difficult supervisor because it only increases conflict in the workplace. Your immediate supervisor will consider this a very serious backstabbing maneuver and might seek some sort of retribution in the future against you and your career. Also, other people in your workplace might brand you as a whistleblower because of your actions. Try to discuss issues with your supervisor first and only go up the chain of command as a last resort.

    Stop Letting Conflict Control YOU Learn to manage conflict by "using your head", rather than your heart. Find out about pro's and con's of different conflict methods. Click here to preview Using Your Head to Manage Conflict Helpcard.

11. Encourage good behavior with praise. It is easy to criticize your superiors, but criticisms often lead towards resentment and hostile feelings. Everyone likes a pat on the back for good behavior, so you should strive to watch for good behaviors from your supervisor and compliment them on that. Proactive praising is much more effective than reactive criticisms.
     
12. Document everything. If you choose to stay with a toxic employer, then document everything. This will become your main ammunition should a complaint ever be filed down the road. Document interactions with them as well as your own activities so that you can remind them of your own achievements at performance review time.
     
13. Leave work at work. Get into the habit of leaving work at home and not bringing it into your personal life because that will only add to your level of stress. Keep your professional life separate from your personal life as best as you can. This also includes having friends who you don’t work with so that you can detach yourself from your work life rather than bringing it home with you.

How can you deal effectively with a micromanager? Chambers offers the following strategies:

• Find out his agenda. Determine what's really important to him, then try to avoid to stand on his/her way. Never trust micromanagers.
   
• Inform them to death:  weak point of micromanager is that they try to do too much. Capitalize on that and use information as a weapon to weaken the enemy. Send then all kind of useless and redundant information that has at least slight relationship to your project. All invoices, project memos and other useless crap should be in his mailbox.
   
• Practice the "art" of communication with corporate psychopaths. Speak slowly, non-confrontationally. Do not reveal any useful of interesting information.  Your reports should be as dull as possible. Consider this to be a useful mimicry.
   
• Write down all micromanagers assignments and document your workload.  Document  all your assignments in a verifiable trail of memos and e-mails. Many micromanagers fear to give written instructions and even oral instruction are given via patsies. Politely write them down and shoot to micromanagers mailbox. That documents the instruction as they fear responsibility and cut their desire to dictate you everything as there is a definite documentation trail.
   
• Consider each abrupt change of direction as the invitation to renegotiating your objectives and their priorities.  Calculate the hours each assignment take and try to increase his/her awareness that it is impossible to put 50 pounds in 15 pond bag. Each request for new report should be documented and fired back in email which should document when his/her new caprice was bestowed on you.  List of reports prepared can serve as a attachment to you annual performance review. be as non-confrontational as possible.
   
• The micromanager loves to impose and even change deadlines. But often he cannot care or do not understand the results that need to be achieved. Cut corners and simplify projects, skip tuning and/or debugging or some parts, quietly redefine final result required,  etc. 
   
• Play by the rules. The micromanager enjoys catching people in the act. Avoid being an easy target and play by the rules-particularly on policies regarding time and technology.  never use extended lunch breaks and stay in office the regular hours.
   
• Choose your battles. The micromanager will go to war on every issue. Don't try to match him. Instead, choose only meaningful battles that are most important to you.  Quietly sabotage stupid initiatives working on certification or your pet projects.  Maintain illusion of overload even if you have nothing to do.

Tips for coping with a micromanager

My experiences....
I have found that stupidity begot stupidity. If we get a "stupid" person in "power", they seem to want to hire more "stupid-er" than they are so that they can look good.
That's my theory and I am sticking to it.

Just blindside them when the time is rig

Just do what I did, I bided my time working for an impossible boss (he was the IT director) and I had worked my way up from being a junior support to be the support supervisor (they didn't have a support manager). He wouldn't make decisions, constantly gave conflicting instructions (even when the originals were in writing).

I lasted 18 months in total for the company, the last 6 were as the supervisor. Then one day I walked and he called me for a meeting to discuss his next 'great plan', I handed him my resignation, he didnt see it coming. I must confess I took immense satisfaction doing this to him but not the company or my co workers.

 

I keep in touch from time to time but my old boss has not said a single word to me since that day.

Tips for coping with a micromanager/KINGDOM COMPLEX

Micro-managers, NAH-TAH-ZU?
 

There is that one type of micro manager that wasn't on the list. Perhaps the very worst case senario is the Micro manager that has what I call the KINGDOM complex. He doesn't know what his people are supposed to do yet he meddles in the interworkings of the department, gives conflicting instructions and assignments , dislikes giving instructions in writing etc. His only real goal is to stay in power however necessary.

 

I had the unfortunate experience of having to work for such a person for a year and a half. he has his own secret police force that keeps him apprised of every word spoken, you can be assured that at least one of you design team members reports around you as the department manager directly to him. He gives hidden instruction to a lakey and lakey communicate it to you.

 

This morning he is your best friend , this afternoon he is charging all of his problems to your incompetence.

 

This type of manager cannot exist without having a weak CEO and damanged or doomed corporation.

 

But there is supreme logic in his behavior: his only interest and ultimate goal are to maintain his position regardless of what it takes to include character assassination.