This article was originally posted on 17 March 2022

“I noticed you left quickly after school yesterday. Did you have an appointment?”

“What did you do in your planning, preparation and assessment time today?”

“I’ve made a list of things I would like you to include in the project you’re leading. Send it over to me when you’ve got started so I know you’re on the right track.”

These types of comments will be instantly recognisable to anyone who has been micromanaged.

Of course, leaders in schools need to know what staff are doing and a healthy level of engagement is to be welcomed and, sometimes, “sweating the small stuff” is needed. But, when this strays into micromanagement, it can be very damaging, creating a spiral of mistrust and resistance.

Furthermore, in a micromanagement culture, it can be hard to develop future leaders if no one is given an opportunity to manage their own projects or workload independently. But it doesn’t have to be like this.

If you find yourself working for a micromanager, there are approaches you can adopt to improve your working relationship.

1. Change your communication style

As difficult as the prospect sounds, you need to communicate to your manager that their micromanaging is impacting your productivity.

This conversation will be hard, but a micromanager may not even be aware that they have lapsed into this practice or how it is impacting you and the wider team.

Start the conversation by providing some factual points about what is being asked, and then the outcome that this has. This might be that their requests are taking time away from more urgent aspects of your job, or that they’re reducing your ability to be autonomous or use leadership skills.

It is worth spending some time scripting this conversation first to allow you to focus on the key facts and keep some of the emotion out of the conversation.

A good opener could be: “I’ve noticed you have sent a lot of requests asking for me to…can we talk about the impact this is having on my work?”

Resist lapsing into emotive language and focus the discussion on agreed solutions and the outcome you would like to see.

This may not be an easy conversation but talking through issues builds understanding and relationships. A good way to enter the conversation is to keep in mind the positive qualities your manager has and find common ground, that you agree on, to build up from there.

2. Help your manager to delegate

Micromanagers find it hard to let go of responsibility and the control that this brings.

And you can see why - when that person has the ultimate responsibility for the outcomes of their team, it’s a lot of pressure to shoulder. They might even believe it isn’t fair to pass on the responsibility to others.

However, it’s important to let your manager know that you feel you are missing out on the opportunity to take responsibility, and you welcome the challenge.

Be proactive and find an area you’re interested in and want to take ownership of.

Then, approach your manager with evidence of research you have done into the problematic areas you want to take charge of.

3. What to do if micromanaging continues

So, you tried raising the problem and you thought your manager understood - but then the micromanaging begins again. It is worth keeping in mind that changing patterns of behaviour is really difficult, and lapses into old bad habits are part of the process.

Rather than allowing several small incidents to build up before you broach the topic again, it’s best to respond straight away to let your line manager know this is another example of the issue you have previously discussed.

These sorts of conversations are better to have face to face. Focus first on a positive example of when you have felt your feelings have been heard, and then raise your concern about the response where their style has veered into micromanaging again.

4. Supporting colleagues who are micromanaging

As a middle or senior leader, you might become aware of a colleague who is micromanaging their team. In these cases, giving your unsolicited opinion on their management style is probably unwise, but that doesn’t mean you just have to ignore it.

Instead, raising concerns about their workload and suggestions for how you have found success using delegation and staff development is more likely to be both welcomed and listened to.

You might begin the conversation by saying: “I’ve noticed you seem to be taking on a lot of the responsibility for those in your team. That doesn’t seem fair on you. Would you like to see how we delegate tasks within our department?”

Ultimately, we all want to work within a positive environment. Leaders want to get the best from those they lead and know that they are doing a good job.

Sometimes that “small stuff” will continue to cause perspiration - and there might be good reasons for that - but that is exactly why it’s best to have a discussion.

However, giving people enough space to thrive within the constraints of the job can only ever lead us to better things.