Meeting with manager is weird

[ohdeerohdear]

She documents our entire hour conversation. She makes notes against each action point in the weekly meeting and states whether I've met the deadline, when I sent an email, what I have specifically said in the meeting. When I was late and the reason given. I get sent a copy of the meeting 'report' afterwards. I find this really weird and like I'm being 'attacked' because it quite often reveals my shortfalls rather than highlighting my achievements. Never any praise. Is this a normal management style?

She quote what I say which I find odd

Thats quite a good manager and a valued asset for the company, especially if some workers were to say a certain manager was unfair or they did not say a certain task was not completed, then with this mangers detailed notes, the other mangers can understand the records in detail.

Plus as your manager is management, then at least the employees that are under that manager know that their boss is highly detailed in their information.

that said they do seem more cold and factual rather than offering support and encouragement.

@ohdeerohdear
What the managers above your manager like ?

Sounds like she's short of something to do, tbh

Are you like a trainee neurosurgeon or something?

Not normal. They sound like a micromanaging arse with no people skills.

No, this is not a good manager!

No it's not normal - that sounds horrendous. Does she have any actual work to do?!

Sounds like poor management, the sort that takes every ounce of joy out of work.

Meetings should involve successes, how various projects are going, how to access help for tricky tasks, any other stuff. if there are issues to cover, the focus should be on agreeing a plan to move forward.

if you were top manager and wanted eg area mangers to be doing x, then the managers below were not doing x or achieving x, then the top manager could using notes like the ops manager and see why ?

No, it's ridiculous micro management. Managers need to realise we're adults and treat us this way unless given a good reason not too, at which point a management plan should be implemented.

No dear, this is micromanaging and is not what to do.

I worked for someone like this many moons ago. She was an utter pain in the arse and couldn't keep her staff because people soon tired of the micro management.

Are you looking for a new job?

You're either not a manager, or if you are, you're a bad one.

Fair points

which is understandable, but then on the flip side you do get quite a few employees that take the biscuit so to speak, eg cutting corners, wasting company time, half completing tasks, as examples when they are given free reign to complete their duties based on other threads on mumsnet.

Sounds like she thinks you are underperforming and is gearing upto out you on a performance improvement plan

Unless you are under some sort of performance management arrangement (which you would have been told about) this is really odd behaviour from your manager. Only time i have ever had to do this is with someone who was on their second written warning.

I'm amazed you've identified this as micro managing because I haven't even included examples of the actual micro managing that occurs. It's basically her way, or no way. I'm finding it very hard because anything I say is written down as if it's going to be used against me in the future. I also feel like nothing I do is good enough. And like I have to explain my actions all the time. I'm a professional whose been in the sector (education) for 15 plus years. When I say I'm late for work due to traffic, she then scrutinised my route to work to assess if the road closure did in fact impact my lateness to work. She's very intense and it feels like I'm undergoing an interview or other similarly stressful analysis.

Is this their style with everyone or is it just you?
If it's just you then I'm afraid it sounds like you're underperforming and might be on performance management soon. It's not "weird" to make notes of a meeting but a weekly one to one is a lot - unless you're needing a lot of input to be able to carry out your role.

Just read your update. No, that sounds very overbearing. Is there a high staff turnover?

Yes. My predecessor lasted 6months I'm told.

I'm going to ask my trusted colleague if they have regular meetings and receive reports afterwards too.

I started in this role in July.

We might have the same manager! Seriously.

My manager is exactly like this. Very micro manager. It's not normal. I don't know anyone else like it

She then uses this level of detail against people. It's there in black and white if you haven't done something you said you would. And it gets flagged again and again, even if it's low priority.

On the other hand, it doesn't celebrate success at all. When the 101 things that have been completed get done, there might be a 'closed' note added, but no acknowledgment or celebration. Quickly move on to whatever is still on the to do list.

This way or working works very well for the manager and their profile in the business. As far as her boss is concerned, she gets things done and has the proof to refer to.

But for the the people who report into her it's a nightmare and a box ticking exercise. It's controlling, and an unhealthy level of control. It restricts autonomy, reduces trust to zero and severely impacts employee creativity.

What's ended up happening now is everyone at our work place has learnt to do the work that is on the line managers agenda and prioritise that so that they don't get publicly humiliated. There's no trust and it's a bad atmosphere when she's around.

However, having said all of that, there is an efficiency in making notes during the meeting and agreeing on these by the end of the meeting rather than having to write up notes after a meeting. Agreeing on tasks and outcomes hold people to account, but clearly some people take it too far.

i think part of the issue is some people take the biscuit and spoil it for the rest of the staff and then sometimes people have managers like the ops