Point Lookout: a free weekly publication of Chaco Canyon Consulting
Volume 8, Issue 37;   September 10, 2008: Lateral Micromanagement

Lateral Micromanagement

by

Lateral micromanagement is the unwelcome intrusion by one co-worker into the responsibilities of another. Far more than run-of-the-mill bossiness, it's often a concerted attempt to gain organizational power and rank, and it is toxic to teams.
Damage to Purple Loosestrife due to feeding by the galerucella beetle

Damage to Purple Loosestrife due to feeding by the galerucella beetle. Both are invasive species in North America. In their native habitat, the beetle controls the loosestrife, but in North America, where the plant is uncontrolled by native species, the beetle has been imported to prevent the plant from dominating wetlands. The pictured plant is at Fresh Pond Reservation, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Invasive species are in many ways the natural analog of the lateral micromanager. They move into an environment that isn't their own, and quickly dominate unless some element of the invaded domain responds with an effective defense, or unless a new element that can provide an effective defense enters that domain. In work groups and teams, it is the responsibility of management to notice lateral micromanagement (which is, after all, a performance issue) and intervene — that is, to play the role of the galerucella beetle, or to recruit someone who can serve that function. Failing that, someone, or several someones, must step forward to effectively inhibit the behavior of the lateral micromanager. Unless some action is taken to limit the behavior of the invasive species (the lateral micromanager), nothing can prevent it from choking the ecosystem (the team). Photo by E. Wylde, courtesy Cambridge Water Department.

Lateral micromanagement happens most often in everyday interactions or in collaborations between peers, when one co-worker tries to direct others, or exerts undue authoritative influence over them. It's much more than "bossiness" — it usually relates to the career ambitions of the lateral micromanager.

Because ambition is usually involved, lateral micromanagement is often coupled with attempts at image management. The lateral micromanager strives to make clear to higher authority that success of the joint effort is largely due to his or her own personal contributions and leadership, and inversely, failure is due to the poor performance of others.

As with most micromanagement, the nature of the directing behavior focuses not on results but on factors more immediately related to the lateral micromanager's ambitions and self-perception. Here are three of those factors.

How the results are achieved
Lateral micromanagers try to specify techniques, even when the work being done is outside their areas of responsibility. Excuses might include remote but plausible risks, or whether the method is consistent with established procedures, or personal ethical concerns. Often the true goal is to require the use of methods for which the lateral micromanager can claim credit.
The priority, pace, or price of achieving results
By asserting priorities or the need for tight deadlines or tight budgets, often beyond any constraints imposed externally, lateral micromanagers hope to limit choices. Sometimes the constraints rule out approaches competitive with those they advocate. Those constraints can also influence priorities in the micromanager's own favor.
Which resources are employed
Lateral micromanagers sometimes advocate the use of particular resources — human or otherwise — over which they have control or responsibility. This gives them leverage.

Since ambition is the focus, the group's results are not central to the lateral micromanager's goals, which are establishing and consolidating personal power, and creating or burnishing an image of power.

Here are some suggestions for dealing with lateral micromanagers.

Know what to look for
The younger, rapidly rising stars are sometimes skilled not at the work, but at the rising. Lateral micromanagers rise not so much on their achievements or leadership as on their ability to project an image of achievement and leadership.
Maneuver them into personal responsibility
Have them commit publicly to deliver results personally. For example, you could propose, "I'll cover X if you'll cover Y." If you can keep them occupied delivering on personal commitments, they have less time for lateral micromanagement. Be clever; they will resist.
The lateral micromanager's goals
are establishing and consolidating
personal power, and creating
or burnishing an image of power
Beware isolation
Once a lateral micromanager discovers that you understand the strategy, you might be targeted for isolation. Prepare in advance: alert your allies to your intentions, and let them know that the lateral micromanager might try to come between you. Ask for their help.

When you tangle with a lateral micromanager, prepare to have your own image management skills tested, or prepare to learn from a master. Go to top Top  Next issue: The Advantages of Political Attack: II  Next Issue

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More about micromanagement

Bottleneck road signWhen Your Boss Is a Micromanager  [December 5, 2001]
If your boss is a micromanager, your life can be a seemingly endless misery of humiliation and frustration. Changing your boss is one possible solution, but it's unlikely to succeed. What you can do is change the way you experience the micromanagement.

I'm glad he isn't my bossThere Are No Micromanagers  [January 7, 2004]
If you're a manager who micromanages, you're probably trying as best you can to help your organization meet its responsibilities. Still, you might feel that people are unhappy — that whatever you're doing isn't working. There is another way.

A sleeping dogAre You Micromanaging Yourself?  [November 24, 2004]
Feeling distrusted and undervalued, we often attribute the problem to the behavior of others — to the micromanager who might be mistreating us. We tend not to examine our own contributions to the difficulty. Are you micromanaging yourself?

The 1991 eruption of Mount PinatuboManaging Pressure: Communications and Expectations  [December 13, 2006]
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 I of a little catalog of tactics and strategies for dealing with pressure.

Freeway damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta, California, EarthquakeManaging Pressure: The Unexpected  [December 20, 2006]
When projects falter, we expect demands for status and explanations. What's puzzling is how often this happens to projects that aren't in trouble. Here's Part II of a catalog of strategies for managing pressure.

One of the Franklin Milestones on the Boston Post RoadManaging Pressure: Milestones and Deliveries  [December 27, 2006]
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.

Captain William BlighHow to Tell If You Work for a Nanomanager  [March 7, 2007]
By now, we've all heard of micromanagers, and some have experienced micromanagement firsthand. Some of us have even micromanaged others. But there's a breed of micromanagers whose behavior is so outlandish that they need a category of their own.

The USS Doyle as DMS-34, when she played The CaineReverse Micromanagement  [July 18, 2007]
Micromanagement is too familiar to too many of us. Less familiar is inappropriate interference in the reverse direction — in the work of our supervisors or even higher in the chain. Disciplinary action isn't always helpful, especially when some of the causes of reverse micromanagement are organizational.

The Niagara River and cantilever bridgeBottlenecks: I  [February 4, 2015]
Some people take on so much work that they become "bottlenecks." The people around them repeatedly find themselves stuck, awaiting responses or decisions. Why does this happen and what are the costs?

A schematic representation of a MOSFETBottlenecks: II  [February 11, 2015]
When some people take on so much work that they become "bottlenecks," they expose the organization to risks. Managing those risks is a first step to ending the bottlenecking pattern.

A demanding managerWhat Micromanaging Is and Isn't  [April 14, 2021]
Micromanaging is a dysfunctional pattern of management behavior, involving interference in the work others are supposedly doing. Confusion about what it is and what it isn't makes effective response difficult.

Eurasian cranes migrating to Meyghan Salt Lake, Markazi Province of IranOn Schedule Conflicts  [May 10, 2023]
Schedule conflicts happen from time to time, even when the organization is healthy and all is well. But when schedule conflicts are common, they might indicate that the organization is trying to do too much with too few people.

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