How to Deal with a Micromanaging Boss

Hello, Oh my! I missed this space so much. I missed blogging and hearing back from you. I missed you, I honestly did. I am so happy to be back here and doing what gladdens my heart. Typing at this moment is giving me so much joy, believe me. I didn’t plan to be away this long but it just happened. Remember the last post where I told you that I had “agreed” to have a week long celebration for my birthday? I didn’t know what was waiting for me. I had no clue.

I took time off work, thinking that I was just going to have fun with the love of my life. Well, it just happened that he had planned out series of events and on one of those days he proposed to me in a special and romantic way. It was a really beautiful day for me. It’s so exciting to know that I am engaged to my best person. It feels so real now. I can go on and on but let me stop here. That explains why I took some time off. We just felt we needed to relax from everything in the world and just hold hands haha. I received your goodwill messages and thank you so much again. If you missed any part of it. Not to worry, as always you can catch a glimpse on Instagram.

Now to today’s post, we will be talking about how to work, handle, and manage a micromanaging boss without losing your mind. I know this topic can be very dicey because so many of us have been in such situation, and I believe that some of you are still undergoing this disheartening scenario. Hopefully, this post will help make your work-life less stressful and challenging.

Personally, I dislike it when bosses or clients try to take control over everything and limit my chances of being creative. It can be so frustrating. Please keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for another, but I will provide several tips and hopefully a few may work out great for you.

1. Are you the problem?

Except you are the problem , there is no reason why a good boss should make your life miserable at work with consistent probing. I always recommend to start with you. Just be certain that you meet up with your time lags and deadlines. Do you do your job effectively? Has your boss complained about your productivity more than once? If that is the case, then you may want to make out new strategies to be the best you can be at work. If not, then the problem is not from you.

There are certain other reasons why some bosses can be annoyingly micromanaging;

• He or she is not a great boss/ manager. Many times people are promoted based on high performance. It doesn’t necessarily make them great leaders
• Insecurity, fear, and or lack of experience on the job is another factor
• He/ she may have less work to do and hence has more time to micromanage you
• He/ she could be a perfectionist. It’s just sad that no matter how hard you try, your boss may want it his/her own way.

2. Keep your boss updated

For some, your boss could be your client. The same rule applies. Micromanaging people want to be in control of everything and they want to know everything possible. So take advantage of this and try to keep them updated on your projects going on via emails or one on one. This will act as a distraction and keep them away from consistently disturbing you at intervals. This way you will take away some control from him/ her.

2. Keep your boss busy

Keeping your boss busy is another way of diverting his/her attention from you and giving you some space to do your work. Involve your boss in projects you may have challenges with and follow up with him/her. Doing this will create the impression that your boss is in charge but deep within you, you know you are making your work easier. Ensure that you follow up on any project you reassigned to him/her so that you can meet up with deadlines and not fall behind.

3. Anticipate what your boss wants

In most cases, you already know what your boss wants to be done, but he/she isn’t aware because as always he/she wants to be in control or remind you incessantly. So anticipate the task, do it before hand, and report to your boss. Chances are that the more you keep doing this, over time your boss will reduce the frequent reminders and check-ins. Your boss will also realize that you are up to the task and reliable.

4. Talk it through and build trust

This may seem very difficult to pull through considering the type of person you have as a boss and the fact that you don’t want to risk your job. But if you can schedule a meeting it may be beneficial to you. Present the matter this way: “Is it possible for me to handle this small project from start to finish, and when I am done I will send you my finished work to examine?” It’s always nice to start small in some cases like this.

You want to make sure that you finish this project well before time if your wish is granted. If you are given the opportunity, thank your boss for the learning experience, and depending on how you handled the project your boss’ management style may improve. This should help you build trust which is obviously lacking from your boss’ end. Once you can safely build trust your boss will let you be after some time.

It is certainly not easy to change your boss’ personality type or management style but with some effort, patience, and consistency you may suceed in one way or the other. I hope that a change of job is not your final resort because many people quit jobs as a result of bad management. If you need more clarification and have questions, please feel free to contact me or send an email to [email protected].

Thank you so much and I hope to hear from you!

Have a great week.

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