Here are some very recent dealings my associate and I have had to deal with, and how we handled it:

1. I got heavily chewed out because I didn't receive a fax reply from someone to whom I faxed paperwork to TWICE. She didn't check to see if her lawyer received my fax - only asked me if I had received reply. I told her I hadn't, and it became "my fault" that her lawyer didn't reply to me. I faxed papers out again, and she again chewed me out for her lawyer not replying. I was not given lawyer's phone number to follow up with, so I could never follow through to see if fax got through. It is client's responsibility to "push" her lawyer to act, however, and not mine. So she said she will take her business to another company.

I let her know I did fax out papers more than once, and I had no phone number to follow up with - if she would provide me with phone number I would call, but ultimately it is her responsibility to get her lawyer to act. I told her I would work with her if she chose, but if she felt she needed to go elsewhere, so be it. I would be here if she ever needed my services. I suppose client may be difficult to deal with, so perhaps I am better off. But I didn't try to burn any bridges in matter. If she finds same situation with next company, maybe she'll forgive me (or just get angry at one more person). Whether she refers me to anyone else is not a goal at this point - goal is to appease her enough that she won't try to tell people to stay away from my business - to try to cool her anger.

2. I emailed a reply stating that I was sorry I took awhile (6 hours) to reply to an email. I told person I had an emergency with my daughter and had to go to hospital. I figured this person would perhaps understand that it was serious. Guess what reply I got? The email said "WHAT?? I'll just find another source."

OK, now I was taken aback by that. I thought a family emergency was a legitimate reason to excuse a less than prompt reply. I guess I will have to just say I was "out of office." Or say nothing and just reply. Is 6 hours really that late a response? I think not, to tell truth. But, I did email back and tell this person that I can work with im if he would like, and will give him my full attention in case. Again, I am just hoping I won't get him telling others not to use my service. (He obviously doesn't have kids or feel same way.)

These are micro managers, and they are one of worst things that can happen to an organization. A micro manager can start with an excellent team of incredible producers and change them into a useless group of disorganized, unmotivated, complainers.

I've worked for micro managers before and it's always been a miserable experience. One was a man named Gary. This "manager" was owner of company, and seemed to always be hovering over my shoulder, demanding to know what I was doing and making "suggestions", giving orders and sometimes just jumping in and doing work himself.

Working for Gary was one of most miserable experiences of my career, especially because his micro managing tendencies got worse as time went on. He would show up at client meetings totally unprepared, make comments at meetings that had nothing to do with anything, and had to approve every penny of expenditure.

Worse yet, when something went wrong it was funny how no one was responsible, lest of all him. He would just jump in and "fix it" (usually making it worse) and have this air about himself silently saying "I knew I couldn't trust you guys".

His "know it all" attitude cost us at least one major client and several contracts. Those of us who worked for him (and it was clear that we worked for him) were afraid to make any mistake lest it be driven into ground, and dreaded days when he decided he "had to take a look at what we were doing" to "be sure we were doing it right".

Sigh. Finally I wised up and moved elsewhere. I learned that trying to work with a micro manager is a futile waste of time - there is no such thing as "working with them" and they do not even understand concept.

So what are signs of a micro manager?

Constantly checking up on your team members - The micro manager has a need to be behind everyone's back at all times. He or she wants to know what their team mates are doing at all times, and will correct even smallest thing without hesitation. Micro managers tend to hover around their team members, making sure that everything is "done right".

A good manager hires and trains people such that they are intelligent and motivated enough to get their jobs done. There is virtually never a need to treat people like robots - treat them like intelligent human beings.

Demanding to be a part of all meetings involving your team members - Micro managers insist on being part of every meeting, no matter how unimportant, so they can be sure they can control what's happening. In those meetings, you can count on a barrage of constant comments, questions and orders from this manager on most trivial of subjects.

Better managers understand that they have team members who know what they are doing and allow them to do what is necessary without a constant need to know every detail. It's surprising sometimes, but most people want to do a good job and will thrive if given opportunity.

Constantly scheduling meetings to "know what's going on" - Not only does micro manager want to be a part of every single meeting, he wants to schedule lots and lots of meetings. This gives him plenty of opportunities to correct all of issues "before they become problems".

Perhaps most unneeded and useless type of meeting is "weekly status meeting" which involves all of members of a team. Good managers communicate so well with their team members that they always know what's going on and thus do not need these types of status meetings at all. When they do have them, purpose is more to let their team members know what's happening instead of other way around.

Inviting lots of people to meetings which are scheduled often - Micro managers usually have no idea what they are doing, and thus don't know who needs to be at a meeting. Thus, they tend to invite everyone on their teams, and anyone else that they think might want to be involved.