to consider leaving my job becasue my boss is a control freak?

[DoubletheRage]

She's lovely, fair and decent. I enjoy the work and the location and hours suit me brilliantly. Pay's rubbish, but that's a trade for fab hours and no commuting.

But, I am being micro managed. My boss needs control over every tiny detail of every project, big or small. So, rather than saying we need to achieve XYZ and leaving me to it, which I am more than capable of, she'll say you need to do ABCDEFG.... to get to XYZ. And there is to be no deviation. If for example I think doing B before A works better or I think we should miss M&N or add an extra step, that won't even be considered and I'll be reprimanded if I do it without talking to her first. Often my ideas are good, honestly!

Anyway, I can live with it on a daily basis, the atmosphere is fine, I do what she sets me and go home. BUT, I'm in really danger of forgetting how to think for myself. If I were to go back (or forward) to any of the places I've worked in the past and expect this level of input from my manager, they'd think I was completely useless.

Yanbu. That would drive me crazy. Have you tried talking to her about it?

I had one like this,it drove me insane. In the end we had such different work styles that I asked for a demotion to get rid.

I worked for one of those... Eventually I gave in and played the game as I felt my health wasn't worth it, but it quickly progressed to her faking mistakes of mine to highlight to superiors and then fix publicly. I bit my tongue, handed my notice in, and watched her interview replacement after replacement, turning down anyone remotely independent or having her offers being refused by some she really wanted (hysterical!)
When I finally left I showed proof of what she had done, took my reference and got the hell out, and it felt amazing.
I left over a year now, and she's still trying to recruit...

No, my boss isn't nasty like that Girl, she's very decent, probably more so than anyone I've ever worked for. She just needs to be in control. She'll give me credit for things I've achieved, even when she did all the planning.

I don't think there'd be any point talking to her. She'd be upset and might try but she would find it impossible to change.

No one finds it impossible to change, and anyway that isn't your problem - it's her boss's problem.

If she's so nice, what do you have to lose if you raise the issue? She is most likely aware of it, and if she's not stupid she'll know that an inability to delegate will eventually be a brake on her own career.

I have a boss like this, I've practically given up, and tbh so has his boss, which is slightly concening! Today is the first day in five years I've been allowed to work from home (he isn't even in the office today, so it makes absolutely no difference where I work!). His boss has even gone so far as to change the location of a post because he couldn't manage three. He micromanaged like no-ones business and I wouldn't mind if it was effective, but he barely knows what I do day-to-day and knows to the last minute how much flexi I have.......

Ps I'm just doing the school run so not actually mning at work

Sounds exactly like my lady boss who would complain about 'spoon feeding' us but wouldn't let us breathe without approving it first. She'd go mental If we didn't tell her every minute detail of what we were doing. I'm so glad I left.

Have you been there long? Any chance she'll unclench her buttocks a bit once she can see you're capable of doing stuff without supervision?

Can you raise it in your appraisal - put in such a way that you would like to develop yourself by working more independently, and try out agreeing objectives, parameters and timescales, but not the detail? You could say you want to reduce the burden on her, whilst still respecting that she is ultimately responsible for your work.

Micro managing is the sign of a poor manager, no matter how nice they are.

The only time I feel there's any need for this kind of thing is when there's anew member of staff, and even then I'd set things up and leave them to settle in, just checking in more frequently than I would for the more experienced staff.

Fair enough Double - I still think I'd not thrive with yours though, as you say, I'd start to feel myself dumbing down and becoming dependent.
I hope that you find a solution that fits without damaging the working relationship !