Move the Mouse to the Left…Now!

The classic micro manager.

This guy wants to know what you're doing every minute of the day (and thinks you could do much better if only he could direct every move).

In extreme cases, he actually tells you what to do on at least an hourly basis. He wants to review every report and every significant email you send before anyone else sees it. It's hard to get anything done with him looking over your shoulder.

Your fantasy responses:

• "Obviously, you should just do this all yourself."
• "I could have done this twice in the time it took you to tell me how to do it."
• "Do you want me to work or just report status?"

Why:

• He may not really understand what his department is doing and desperately wants to be able to talk about it intelligently.
• He may have had situations in the past where he didn't pay enough attention to what was going on in his department and got burned for it.
• Someone in the department may have gotten him in trouble by not letting him know what was going on (this happens more than we'd all like to think, and micromanagement is sometimes a boomerang reaction to the situation)
• His boss may be a micromanager and be demanding all the details of what's going on in the department.
• He may be a genuine control freak.

Tips for Dealing:

• Your best bet is to be proactive with information. On your checklist for getting anything of significance done, just put an action item send it to him for review. Chances are good that if you're proactive and consistent he'll calm down and back off a little bit. 
• Give him a regular (probably weekly) status report. This is less work than it sounds – all you need is a format and the first report. After that, you just make updates every week and send it out – 10 minutes tops. Try to get away with just status from the last week and no future plans (less for him to try to control). If that doesn't work, go from less to more in steps, waiting until asked. Start with 'future plans' and no timeframes. From there you can go to 30 day/over 30 day, and if he's still not satisfied you can go to 30/60/90. You will probably need to put estimated due dates for in-process items, though, or he's just going to come back and ask for them. If his boss is the one causing the micromanagement you're giving your own boss enough information to take forward.
• Sometime he just wants to feel like he has input into the process, so give him that opportunity. With luck after a few weeks of settling in he won't give excess and detailed feedback (but will give you some help where you need it).
• Nod politely at his suggestions and incorporate them when they make sense. Everyone wants to feel like their suggestions count.
• As a last ditch effort, inundate him with information until he cries uncle.