Classically Educated is dedicated to showcasing the largest number of different interesting subjects possible, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t visit the business world every once in a while – after all, a great number of our readers spend most of their waking hours working in an office setting.
The last time we explored the business world, we didn’t exactly focus on best practices and financial wizardry, but instead attempted to identify the dumbest management fads ever.
Perhaps the time has come to do a serious article on business, and explore the trends in… oh, who am I kidding. There are plenty of excellent business books and blogs to get the good stuff, and the errors are so much more entertaining.
So today, we’ll take a look at the most irritating piece of semi-human fauna one will ever encounter within the workplace ecosystem: the micromanager. Micromanagement is probably the easiest way to kill any budding buy-in and creativity, both of which are undesirable, because it means that people in the company are treated as adults and have freedoms that many managers are afraid of. So, in the spirit of making companies a little less threatening to insecure managers, we proudly present a list of the things that make an effective micromanager.
1) Things must be perfect to be released. There used to be a sign on the wall in Facebook’s offices that said “Done is better than perfect”, which embraced change and gave employees tacit permission to make mistakes in the name of progress. A good micromanager will always endeavor to act precisely the opposite way. Things must be perfect, and personally reviewed at least five times by the manager in charge before being released in beta versions. And employees must be constantly reminded that perfection is the only acceptable result. If this delays projects constantly and causes missed deadlines, so be it. There is no replacement for perfection.
2) Some people insist that process is king. A good micromanager knows that these people are wrong. Process is not king… process is GOD. Strict adherence to processes and regulations is much more important than any positive results that might arise from stepping out of the process structure. And if any activity within the company is identified as having too few processes, then it must be brought up to standard. This is especially true if there is a manager who believes in delegating and allowing his people to use their own judgement in charge of that activity, and is doubly true if the department is successful, and therefore undermining the spirit of process-as-God that is being imposed in the rest of the company.
3) Meetings are important. They are important for two reasons: the first is that everyone must be aligned and agree to follow the process and to iron out all the details regardless of agreed-on dates. The second is that only in meetings can a micromanager get everyone together to talk about tiny details that they may or not be directly involved with, instead of having people focus on the big stuff first. That is an important point because, as any good micromanager knows…
4) There is no such thing as priorities. EVERYTHING is equally important. You cannot have perfection if people insist on doing “important” stuff first, or if sales says irresponsible things like “it’s a billion dollar deal, and all I need is a couple of documents – send me whatever you have right now”. These people clearly have no sense of proportion and are dangerous to the company. Be strong and steadfast and never forget rule number one.
5) Words are important, and only have one meaning. It is a micromanager’s sworn duty to stop any conversation, no matter how seemingly productive, if another person uses a word that isn’t exactly descriptive of what is being discussed, ESPECIALLY if the meaning is “close enough”. We’ve talked about this here on CE before, but it’s especially important in a business setting. People who don’t use exactly the right word are heretics who probably care more about results than about process, and must be corrected – publicly if possible. Job titles, of course, must be defined with utter precision, because if someone confuses a senior assistant with a junior analyst, it is quite possible the world will end*.
So there you have it! All you have to do is follow these five simple rules, and the world will work precisely as you wish it to while you are at work. Even if you are not a manager, they are useful, as who can possibly argue against perfection and precision? No one will, at least not to your face! And what you don’t know can’t hurt you, right?
And don’t forget that if you like our Facebook page, you will never miss a post… unless you want to or it irritates you or something.
* And no one wants that unless the proper forms are filled, in triplicate.
PS: a true micromanager will be rereading this post looking to see if all the formatting is correct. Please don’t fail us!
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