Talking to A through B

Dear Kim Kenny, micromanager extraordinaire,

I have two direct reports and they complain that I’m on top of them too much. Do you have any advice for getting round this?

Sincerely yours,

Lenny Lin

Hi Lenny,

Great question! What I do is, when one of my employees are getting close to being fed up with me. I avoid the ‘micromanager’ label by getting employee A to do stuff through employee B. I ask employee B for updates on employee A and ask questions of employee B I well know are the responsibility of employee A.

When direct communication annoys, don’t ease off, go indirect.

Regards,

Kim Kenny, micromanager extraordinaire