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Secrets of Facilitation reveals the principles and techniques effective facilitators use to produce amazing results through groups. The author identifies 60 secrets that separate great facilitators from good ones. He then puts you right in the room through his case studies and numerous sample dialogues, so you can see and experience the techniques in action!

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The Menace of Micromanagement

By Estienne de Beer

Suddenly you become aware of his warm breath in your neck. The boss is watching over your shoulder again. He is there for one of three reasons:

  • you have forgotten to dot an "i" in the unnecessary report to be completed every day at 4:15; or
  • he wants to discuss his latest spreadsheet tracker detailing the use of stationery, staples and paper clips on a daily basis; or
  • he wants to make sure that you are confined to your cubicle for eight hours.

It doesn't matter how successful or diligent you are. Sooner or later you will report to a micromanager, who obsessively controls and manipulates you to the point of desperation. By default, a micromanager's sense of empowering people has been surgically removed at birth. A checklist for everything acts as magnetic north. Harry Chambers explains that "micromanagers always have their antennae up, trying to detect violations." To you it might feel like a classical lose-lose situation. If you get frustrated and tell the boss to back off, you get accused of having a bad attitude and not being a team player. If you keep quiet, you get accused of not displaying any initiative. Join the crowd!

The dilemma in today's corporate world is that many teams are totally over-managed and completely under-led. It feels as if you are controlled like a robot and second-guessed every step of the way. Rick Brenner calls it "nano-managing." Everything needs to get approved beforehand and double-checked afterwards. 70% of what a micromanager labels as "efficiency" consists of making it complicated for people to perform their daily duties. Micromanagement is exactly the opposite of empowerment. Employees hate micro-management passionately. They want to be inspired and led. Micromanagers need to learn that they can't and shouldn't force people to be like themselves. The result will always be low morale and decreased productivity. Marcus Buckingham hits the nail on the head when he said: "You can't standardize human behavior."

So why is your manager a "control freak"?

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