Does your direct supervisor know exactly what you’re working on this week and what kind of results you’re committed to making happen? In addition, the kind of exceptions happening and what you’re doing about those? If not, you might call your manager a micromanager, but let me assure you, they may not be a micromanager. You have made them into one.
You see managers are responsible for the outcomes of the job for all their direct reports. They should have great visibility into the status of every project such as who’s being called, what kinds of things are you talking to them about? Where are the exceptions? What kind of results are you getting? Where are you having problems getting the results? What are you doing about that, etc. Without complete communication and the status of every project known, that manager is put in a very uncomfortable spot. If they can’t deliver on the outcomes and see the inputs being managed properly, guess what? They now become a micromanager.
When that happens, that doesn’t look good for you because it basically means you’re letting them down. Step in and be an authentic communicator that creates great visibility. And if you have a problem, bring it up and talk about what you’re doing about it, so your manager won’t be surprised that something broke down or some number didn’t get hit. What they don’t want to hear about is that you’re covering it up and not making it completely visible, as well as your plan to get around it.
Build some great visibility in everything you do and make sure that you give your manager a phenomenal daily or weekly report, at a minimum, a monthly report as well, about the exact status of everything, so they don’t have to ask. And think of the time you’ll save for both of you.