(And, how to survive being led by one.)

Micromanagement has gotten a bad rap. Call someone a micromanager and it will almost certainly be taken as an insult. Employees are much more likely to use the term to complain about their boss, rather than to compliment their boss’s inspirational leadership. Alas, micromanagement is often misunderstood but it is sorely needed, as long as we do it right.

Legendary Performers

Here is a list of companies that are legendary for their performance: Disney, Dunkin Donuts, Wal-Mart, Marriott, and In-N-Out Burger. No doubt you’ve heard of them, but you may not realize that the founders of each of these organizations were fanatical micromanagers. They focused their organizations on perfection, ensuring that even simple tasks were not left to chance.

Walt Disney was known for obsessing over the details of his Disneyland theme park. William Rosenberg, founder of Dunkin Donuts, made a habit of personally visiting franchises and tossing out coffee and donuts that weren’t fresh enough. Sam Walton and Bill Marriott were both famous road warriors who tried to visit each and every location to ensure it was running properly. Harry Snyder, founder of In-N-Out Burger, even micromanaged his vendors to ensure they delivered the finest, freshest ingredients. If micromanagement is really so wrong, how can the achievements of these companies be so right?

Micromanagement Done Right

Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40, leads by the axiom, “Don’t mark my paper, help me get an A.” Effective micromanagers aren’t so interested in controlling their employees’ every move as they are in making sure things are done correctly and at the highest level possible. They are constantly communicating what needs to be done, helping employees develop the knowledge and skills needed to perform, and checking in to ensure that the results match the expectations.

Creating a clear definition of outstanding performance is key. Managers who either don’t know what they want or can’t effectively communicate expectations cease to be leaders and instead become “micro-meddlers”. These managers become like a broken compass, constantly changing direction and expectations, and generally making it impossible for employees to know what to do. They operate by spotting and correcting what’s wrong without giving much thought to what should be right.

The best organizations avoid micro-meddling as they grow by building micromanagement into the culture, processes, and strategies of the organization. Harry Snyder insisted that every In-N-Out employee start at the bottom, including his own sons. Employees had to master their job before being considered for promotion.  He would only open a new location when he was certain he had developed a seasoned leader capable of running that restaurant to Snyder’s same exacting standards.

How to survive micromanagement

I had seven bosses in the four years I worked for Ace Parking Management. Each new boss had their own agenda, and most of my co-workers actively resisted. They were stuck in their old patterns and focused on staying in place rather than understanding where we were going. My co-workers would tell the new boss, “Here’s how we do things around here.” And the new boss would inevitably say, “That’s nice - here’s how we are going to do things.” After my first two years, I was the most senior person in the Human Resources department. All my other co-workers quit or had been fired and had been replaced by people willing to move in the same direction as the new boss.  Every time we got a new boss the pattern would repeat itself and more people would leave.

My survival strategy was simple, and it is a very effective way to avoid the stress of micromanagement or micro-meddling. I asked each new boss to describe their agenda. What was important to them? Where are we headed? What are our goals? I then made a point to do whatever I could to help the boss be successful. After all, as an employee that was my job.

Over time, I noticed bosses were much more hands-off with me than others. Why? Because I had made sure I knew what my boss wanted and did whatever I could to deliver. It became easier and easier to anticipate what my boss would ask for, and I began to do those things before I was told to do them. Each successive boss quickly learned they didn’t need to micromanage me because I effectively micromanaged myself.