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Have you ever worked for a boss who had to watch your everymove? Someone who scheduled countless meetings which involveddozens (or more) people? A "manager" who always seemed to wantto do your job for you, or, worse, who always knew what waswrong and didn't hesitate to let you know? What about themanager who has to approve every dollar you spend, evensmall things like staplers?These are micro managers, and they are one of the worstthings that can happen to an organization. A micro managercan start with an excellent team of incredible producers andchange them into a useless group of disorganized, unmotivated,complainers.I've worked for micro managers before and it's always been amiserable experience. One was a man named Gary. This"manager" was the owner of the company, and seemed to alwaysbe hovering over my shoulder, demanding to know what I wasdoing and making "suggestions", giving orders and sometimesjust jumping in and doing the work himself.Working for Gary was one of the most miserable experiences ofmy career, especially because his micro managing tendenciesgot worse as time went on. He would show up at clientmeetings totally unprepared, make comments at meetings thathad nothing to do with anything, and had to approve everypenny of expenditure.Worse yet, when something went wrong it was funny how no onewas responsible, lest of all him. He would just jump in and"fix it" (usually making it worse) and have this air abouthimself silently saying "I knew I couldn't trust you guys".His "know it all" attitude cost us at least one major clientand several contracts. Those of us who worked for him (and itwas clear that we worked for him) were afraid to make anymistake lest it be driven into the ground, and dreaded thedays when he decided he "had to take a look at what we weredoing" to "be sure we were doing it right".Sigh. Finally I wised up and moved elsewhere. I learned thattrying to work with a micro manager is a futile waste oftime - there is no such thing as "working with them" and theydo not even understand the concept.So what are the signs of a micro manager?Constantly checking up on your team members - The micro managerhas a need to be behind everyone's back at all times. He or shewants to know what their team mates are doing at all times, andwill correct even the smallest thing without hesitation. Micromanagers tend to hover around their team members, making surethat everything is "done right". A good manager hires and trains people such that they areintelligent and motivated enough to get their jobs done. Thereis virtually never a need to treat people like robots - treatthem like intelligent human beings.Demanding to be a part of all meetings involving your teammembers - Micro managers insist on being part of every meeting,no matter how unimportant, so they can be sure they can controlwhat's happening. In those meetings, you can count on a barrageof constant comments, questions and orders from this manager onthe most trivial of subjects.Better managers understand that they have team members whoknow what they are doing and allow them to do what isnecessary without a constant need to know every detail. It'ssurprising sometimes, but most people want to do a good job andwill thrive if given the opportunity.Constantly scheduling meetings to "know what's going on" - Notonly does the micro manager want to be a part of every singlemeeting, he wants to schedule lots and lots of meetings. Thisgives him plenty of opportunities to correct all of the issues"before they become problems".Perhaps the most unneeded and useless type of meeting is the"weekly status meeting" which involves all of the members of ateam. Good managers communicate so well with their team membersthat they always know what's going on and thus do not needthese types of status meetings at all. When they do have them,the purpose is more to let their team members know what'shappening instead of the other way around.Inviting lots of people to meetings which are scheduledoften - Micro managers usually have no idea what they aredoing, and thus don't know who needs to be at a meeting. Thus,they tend to invite everyone on their teams, and anyone elsethat they think might want to be involved.Virtually all meetings are unnecessary, and most peopleinvited to those meetings which are important do not need tobe there. Good managers understand this and thus limit theirmeetings to those that are necessary. They also only invitethose people who actually have contributions to make or whoreally need to know what's going on.Not delegating authority - The micro manager will neveractually delegate any authority. He will pretend to do so, butnever will. This is the CEO who still orders office supplies,the CIO who must approve every expenditure no matter how small,or the supervisor who insists on approving every change to theline. Funny how the groups managed by these guys can never seemto get anything done ...Excellent managers delegate authority to their team members.For example, if they hire an office manager, then that officemanager is given the authority to stock the supply cabinet.There is no need to personally check over each order to besure the proper supplies are being ordered.Not delegating tasks - One of the most critical parts of anymanager's job is to get other people to do work. This meansALL tasks must be delegated, except for those tasks directlyrelated to getting other people to do their jobs. Managers arelike movie directors or orchestra conductors - they do not actin the movie or play an instrument in the orchestra: they getothers to do this PROPERLY and in harmony with the otherplayers.Approving every expenditure - A micro manager has troubledelegating spending authority, so much so that oftentimeseven five dollar expenditures must be personally approved byhim. The clever micro managers want "reports" of allexpenditures instead, but will chew out someone on a momentsnotice if anything comes across in the report that isunexpected.The great managers delegate spending authority by creating asystem of authorities and limits. As long as spending iswithin the guidelines, it is acceptable for the team membersto spend without approval.Doing actual work instead of managing - The job of a manageror supervisor is to manage people. One of the most importantparts of their job description is "managing" or "supervising".This is also one of the hardest points for many people tounderstand, especially people who have been promoted up theline. They are not supposed to DO, they are supposed to getothers to DO. Except on the very smallest of teams, managerswho are taking part in tasks on a regular basis have notdelegated effectively and are not doing their own jobs ... andthey are not letting other people do their jobs as well.That's the key point about good managers - they understand thattheir job is to manage and/or supervise. They are not "doers"they are people who get other people to do the right things atthe right times to the correct level of quality.All hiring and firing decisions must be personally approved -This is one of the signs of a real micro manager. He has"delegated authority" for an area, but refuses to allow hissupervisors to make decisions about who to hire. He mustperform a second job interview himself to "be sure the personis right for the organization". He will personally write theadvertisement for monster.com, insist upon interviewingeveryone himself, and "gently guide" you into hiring theperson he wants. He will question every single terminationdecision mercilessly, effectively preventing you from firingall but the utterly malicious basket cases.Good managers delegate hiring and firing authority to theirsupervisors and managers. It is perfectly acceptable for agood manager to interview the one or two prime candidates fora critical position, but he understands he does not need topersonally check out each and every decision himself.You see, when a manager insists of interviewing each potentialnew hire himself and will not allow his supervisors to makefiring decisions, he effectively removes a major portion of thesupervisors authority (at least in the eyes of the people hesupervises). It's clear to everyone that the supervisorsauthority is limited and thus he can be challenged, ignored andmade more ineffective. In effect, his authority is dramaticallyundermined.Conclusions - So what do you do about a micro manager? Either"fix him", get a new job or transfer to a different department.Little is more miserable than working for the micro manager,and if you cannot correct him, leave him to his misery.If a micro manager works for you, then you must insist hecorrect his micro managing tendencies immediately. This personis destroying your team, reducing your profits, damaging yourcredibility and dramatically increasing your turnover. Article Tags: Know What's Going, Meetings Which, Micro Managers, Micro Manager, Team Members, Know What's, What's Going, Good Managers, Managers Delegate, Other People