Inside The Mind of a Micro-Manager

This is my first post to my blog and I thought I might post something that has been pressing on my mind quite a lot lately, “Micro-managers”. I'm sure everyone has had to deal with one of these at some time in their lives. I have to deal with one on a semi-normal basis. Anyways, I will explain my experience with these types of people and how I've dealt with them.

Micro-managers are quite possibly the most annoying people for me to deal with. They are perfectionists, autocratic, and very anal. There is either their way or no way. You have to understand their mindset to truly deal with them. Somewhere in their life they flipped a switch and decided to be paranoid about everything. Trust is what it boils down to. Micro-managers have no trust. They are paranoid about anyone but themselves. It doesn't matter if it's a job, a situation, or an event. They will try and control every detail, even when they aren't in charge. They're control freaks! Quite possibly the worst scenarios are when these people are in leadership positions. Whether it'd be a job, group, whatever, this is when micro-managers inflict the worst damage.

The reason damage occurs from micro-managers is simple. They think they know what's best when they really have no idea. I can tell you I have never held a full time job or been in a full time group. I'm still a minor! But what I can tell you is I've been in part time jobs and groups where micro-managers run rampant. It doesn't matter how long and successful you have been in your job or specialty. If a micro-manager is in charge and they don't like something you do, they will block it and force their own idea of how to do it onto you. Get this, "Even if they have no experience in that particular field!"

How do you deal with these types of people? That is not an easy question to answer. And to be honest I still haven't fully found out how to deal with them 100% of the time. I can provide some tips that should help at least some of the time.

• Ignore them the best you can without risking loss. They hate this and often feel helpless if they can't get you to do something.
• Try and reason with them. While this doesn't work nearly as much as it should. It does sometimes have a good effect.
• Don't put up with them. Most are insecure and unsure of life. Confront them of their screw-ups. Sometimes showing a little teeth is necessary
• If you have to do it their way, try to bend the rules a little bit without risking loss. If they told you a pepperoni pizza would be the best for the office party, get a box of sausage pizza too.

Anyways I really enjoyed writing today; look forward to more topics to come.

Thanks,

-Griffin