ow to deal with a micromanaging boss August 24, 2012 If you work for a micromanager, you're probably pretty miserable. It's hard to feel trusted and valued when your work is being constantly scrutinized and your boss is checking up on things that you don't think they need to check on. But there are often steps you can take to get more breathing room. First, though, let's define what micromanagement really is, because people often confuse hands-on management (good) with micromanagement (bad). Good managers will be heavily involved in setting goals and ensuring that employees are clear on the desired outcomes, and they do check in on progress throughout the course of the work. But micromanagers, on the other hand, dictate exactly how to do the work and watch over every step in the process, refusing to truly delegate any decisions -- and, in the process, lower morale and productivity. If your boss has crossed over from being hands-on into micromanaging, one of two things is going on: (1) Your boss is micromanaging you because you have given her reason to, or (2) your boss is micromanaging you because she's a micromanager in general. Your path forward starts with figuring out which of these is going on. Over at the Intuit QuickBase blog today, I talk about how to handle both of these situations. You can read it here . Sadly, my work environment (call center) is just the kind of work environment that leads to micromanaging. You have to