How to cope with a MICROMANAGING BOSS. Please help?????

[drosophila]

It's getting me down real fast. Nit picking is an understatement. I have decided to have it out with her next Week and I wanted some tips. Do share your experiences.

OK, this may not be what you want to hear, but do you think she wants to get rid of you? Micro-managing is one technique bosses use when they want to make someone resign.

If not, then you have to persuade her that you are all grown up and can get on with your own work. Why do you think she is micro-managing? Insecurity? Does she even know she's doing it? Have some specific examples ready showing the kind of thing that you object to and suggest how it could be handled differently. Note the meeting and suggest you schedule a follow up for a month later.

Thanks Enid. It's the civil service so she unlikely she would be trying ot get to resign. We both work PT at opposite ends of the week. At the end of each week I used to give her a summary of what I had been doing and she gave me a task list at the end of her week. I think is beginning to wonder what I do. I am the type who gets on with things and don't tend to advertise the fact. The task list has become very dictatorial. You will do x by y date.

ditto what edam said

the other reason people micro manage is that they are confident in how to do your job (has she recently been promoted?) but lost as to how to do their own, so they take the easy route & try & do your job for you.

If she is new to the job tread sensitively as she is probably aware (and even panicing about) she's not doing her job properly. Try & find subtle ways of telling her how your old boss used to do things & how that helped you - sometime you just have to teach your boss how to do their job well

My boss tends to be a bit of a nit picker and I think its just part of some peoples personalities.

I find giving her loads of information tends to calm her down a bit.I second what betsyboop says, tread sensitively. Its maybe because she is p/t too that she feels she has to keep a tight rein as she isn't there to see what is going on, perhaps her boss is uncomfortable with her not being in when one of her team is.

Maybe say what you have said here, that you like to get on with things and you feel she is taking a lot of her time to do this when you are good at self managing. See if you can agree a more beneficial way of her knowing what you are doing.

ask if there is anything more you can do to support her. tell her you appreciate the direction of the list, but also feel that sometimes you may need some flexibility within in it,to troubleshoot any unexpected issues

Hmm her boss is also part time and our paths only cross for about 6 hrs in the week.. My boss said to me that her boss needs to know that I am (and therfore we) active in this that and the other. I tend to et on with things and cc people into emails incase they need to be in the loop. An awful lot of self promotion and advertising goes on where I work and it's not really me.

I am trying to understand her so your thoughts are interesting. Thanks