
William Bligh, Captain of HMS Bounty, which experienced a mutiny on April 28, 1789. Illustration from A Voyage to the South Sea, his book on the subject. Courtesy Project Gutenberg, the oldest producer of
free ebooks on the Internet.
If you think you might be working for a micromanager, but you aren't sure, count yourself lucky, because when your boss is a micromanager, there's absolutely no doubt. Um, wait, there is some doubt — your boss might be a nanomanager. Nanomanagers are about a thousand times worse. They do most of what micromanagers do, but they do it more often, and way better. Here's a little catalog of what it takes to be a nanomanager.
- Has open door policy, but the door in question is yours.
- For any task, specifies precisely how and by-when.
- When you can't do the how or you miss the by-when for a task, determines the how and the by-when of determining the new how and the new by-when.
- Does the things you're supposed to do, but still insists that you do them too.
- Is too busy doing your job to pay any attention to own job.
- Can't tolerate incompetent subordinates.
- Can't tolerate competent subordinates.
- Demands the impossible.
- Is clueless about difference between what's possible and what's not.
- Doesn't understand — and therefore rejects — all explanations of why the impossible is impossible.
- Blames subordinates for all failures.
- Claims responsibility for all successes.
- Sees no need to recognize contributions of subordinates, since there aren't any.
- Makes Captain Queeg and Captain Bligh look like management geniuses.
- Has fingers in everything, but has no idea where anything stands.
- Demands next status report before previous status report is completed.
- Claims all assignments are clear and unambiguous.
- Won't supply clear answers to questions about ambiguous assignments.
- Corrects the way you ask clarifying questions about ambiguous assignments.
- Has said, "I don't like surprises," but gets obvious thrills from surprising subordinates.
- Nanomanagers are like
micromanagers, but about
1000 times worseIs isolated from peers, with possible exception of other nanomanagers. - Changes directions frequently, but doesn't necessarily inform subordinates.
- When contradicted by Reality, or by own boss, claims never to have said or believed what was contradicted.
- Can't always resist the urge to tell subordinates how to use the phone system.
- Doesn't actually know how to use the phone system.
- Sits in on meetings chaired by subordinates, saying, "Pretend I'm not here," then hijacks the meeting.
- Insists on signing off on all decisions of subordinates, and regularly rejects some.
- Countermands decisions of subordinates, then makes same decisions a few days later.
- Can't always coherently explain what was wrong with rejected decisions.
- Never takes vacation.
- Does get sick from time to time, but comes to work anyway, saying, "I'm needed."
- Takes sick days only for major surgery, and then only while still anesthetized.
- Periodically tries to build rapport with subordinates, by stopping by for friendly, relaxed chats, but only when hard deadline is imminent.
- Strenuously denies micromanaging anyone, ever.
There's more, but do I have to spell it out for you? (Just kidding.) Top
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Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info
For a survey of tactics for managing pressure, take a look at the series that begins with "Managing Pressure: Communications and Expectations," Point Lookout for December 13, 2006.
For more about micromanagement, see "When Your Boss Is a Micromanager," Point Lookout for December 5, 2001; "There Are No Micromanagers," Point Lookout for January 7, 2004; "Are You Micromanaging Yourself?," Point Lookout for November 24, 2004; "Reverse Micromanagement," Point Lookout for July 18, 2007; and "Lateral Micromanagement," Point Lookout for September 10, 2008.
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
The High Cost of Low Trust: II
- Truly paying attention to Trust at work is rare, in part, because we don't fully appreciate what distrust
really costs. Here's Part II of a little catalog of how we cope with distrust, and how we pay for it.
Managing Pressure: Milestones and Deliveries
- Pressed repeatedly for "status" reports, you might guess that they don't want status —
they want progress. Things can get so nutty that responding to the status requests gets in the way of
doing the job. How does this happen and what can you do about it? Here's Part III of a set of tactics
and strategies for dealing with pressure.
The Discontinuity Effect: What and Why
- Counterproductive competition is more likely in group-group interactions than in one-to-one or one-to-group
interactions. Why does counterproductive competition happen?
Narcissistic Behavior at Work: II
- Narcissistic behavior at work threatens the enterprise. People who behave narcissistically systematically
place their own interests and welfare ahead of anyone or anything else. In this Part II of the series
we consider the narcissistic preoccupation with superiority fantasies.
Multi-Expert Consensus
- Some working groups consist of experts from many fields. When they must reach a decision by consensus,
members have several options. Defining those options in advance can help the group reach a decision
with all its relationships intact.
See also Workplace Politics and Managing Your Boss for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming February 1: The Big Power of Little Words
- Big, fancy words, like commensurate or obfuscation, tend to be more noticed than the little everyday words, like yet or best. That might be why the little words can be so much more powerful, steering conversations where their users want them to go. Available here and by RSS on February 1.
And on February 8: Kerfuffles That Seem Like Something More
- Much of what we regard as political conflict is a series of squabbles commonly called kerfuffles. They captivate us while they're underway, but after a month or two they're forgotten. Why do they happen? Why do they persist? Available here and by RSS on February 8.
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Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group