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The unmanagable manager contd….
August 16th, 2010
Poor Sarah, over-managed and undermined, so what do you do when you find yourself in a position where your manager needs managing…..
We all have one, it could even be you; that super organised friend. Everything is colour coded and labeled, Christmas shopping completed by mid-April, holiday luggage packed and outfits picked three weeks in advance.
As a highly disorganised individual I often envy those who have everything meticulously planned and on time. It’s undoubtedly a less stressful way of life.
When it does become a problem though, is when this super organisation is imposed upon others. Its fine to offer some friendly direction, but nobody likes being forced to change a successful work pattern they’re comfortable with. Being over-managed is undermining and frustrating not to mention rude.
Apart from anything else unnecessary meetings and other ‘managerial techniques’ take up valuable time and cost the company money. It also has to be asked, what else if anything are these over bearing managers doing with their time? Even a blind mouse could see more progress is made by leaving competent employees to their own devices, checking in from time to time.
Sarah’s case is difficult, but not impossible. What she needs to do instead of fighting Pamela’s nature is embrace it and use it to her advantage. If Pamela insists on inflicting these methods on her, Sarah should ask specifically, point by point what Pamela would like clarified in each progress meeting. She could even ask her to sign the agreement. She should then work to her new structure, progress reports, untimely meetings and all.
As time goes by Pamela will realise that in fact Sarah’s progress has slowed, and maybe she was more productive before. Either that or somebody else will notice and question it only to find that Sarah is simply following direction. Fire with fire……
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