Should I tell my colleague she is micro-managing? WWYD?

[Northernlass99]

I've found out that two really great mid-level people in my team are thinking of leaving. The reason is because my more senior colleague who is managing them is micro-managing - scrutinising everything they do including travel, diaries, track-change all over their documents etc. I honestly think she thinks she is helping by training them up and bringing them up to scratch but its too much, and they are both unhappy. I'd be gutted if they left as they are both lovely and its so hard to recruit in our field.

The senior colleague is on the same band as me, I have a good relationship with her and have known her a long time. But she is a bit sensitive. Should I tell her whats going on? I don't want to stick my nose in. I could just leave this and let it play out. I thought about going to my Director (her boss) but that seems harsh. Should I discuss with another colleague on the same band as us to get some advice?

We have an away day coming up for the whole team and its going to be very hard to be honest knowing that this is going on. WWYD??

Going to her boss to suggest that she could do with some management training isn't "harsh". You're not trying to get her in trouble, you're trying to help her.

Whether it's helpful will depend on whether this is a good boss or not.

I think it depends on whether the micro-managing is justified or not, which isn't clear from your post. If she is trying to get these two people to raise their standards, she might have been sanctioned to do it.

I think the best approach is a casual chat with her to find out why she's doing it and if there's a valid reason. You may only be hearing one side of the story so don't jump to conclusions. I wouldn't talk to other colleagues or your/her boss as this could be seen as undermining her.

Yes good point about undermining her by going to the Director.

And also good point about whether the micro managing is justified. I personally don't think it is, but then I'm not managing them so I could be wrong.

Certainly one of the people being micro managed has been here a while and was not managed that way previously. One is new so unlikely that the Director would have sanctioned working this way.

IME managers who start micro-managing do so because they are stupidly stressed themselves, and you end up with a vicious circle, so could well be worth talking to her boss about people coping in general.

Yes I think she is massively stressed and busy. But I think she is one of those people who is always stressed, wouldn't know what to do if she wasn't stressed.

And you would think if you were that stressed and busy you wouldn't have time to be going through expenses with a fine tooth comb!

Certainly one of the people being micro managed has been here a while and was not managed that way previously.

This doesn't really mean anything though. I'm sure we've all come across managers who take the easy route by not trying to improve under-performance and just let people get away with things. Then someone new comes in with higher standards and they're painted as an ogre (whereas really it was the previous manager going along with things for an easy life). I'm not saying this is the case but there are two sides to every story and right now you only have one.

True. Thanks.