Working with a Micromanager

As of late, there has been a spirit of dissension in my place of employment. Not wanting to point fingers, I am forced to do so. Bear with me... There is this one woman who after obtaining a managerial role in my office has assumed a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde complex. Instead of overseeing the work flow of others in an efficient and effective manner, she's dug her heels into actually doing the tasks to fit her desires vs. the better good of the office. To make matters worse, this individual is extremely, unequivocably rude and impatient. Her intolerance for a particular woman's comments whom she feels are unwarranted, lengthy and just gibberish has spilled over into how she in fact deals with others - i.e. cutting you off mid-sentence either because your point is invalid or she already knows your point so why waste "her" time by expounding any further on it? See where I'm going with this? You can't win! And then there's the office holiday party this past weekend at the bosses house where she's on her best behavior and is as sweet as pie...Huh?!

Ok, believe it or not, my point here is NOT to crucify this woman...I promise. Rather, it is to simply say, Lord, how would you have me to react/treat/interact with this person? That's the true test. As I purge my thoughts, I must say that I have gotten caught up in the office gossip mill as myself and others attempt to vent our frustrations about this person. WRONG! Last week, I tried to take the high road and be as diplomatic as I possibly could and express my feelings during our annual office retreat. I urged all of us to increase our level of patience with one another, to allow others to finish their thoughts fully and completely even if we hated what they were saying. This would be the only way that we could cooperate with one another particularly since our office is based on a team structure. Several people in my office came to me later and told me that they were so glad that I'd said something and that it was long overdue. I was prayerful about my comments so I pray it fell on fertile ground. At any rate, you may wonder if I've gone to this individual one on one. That, I have not done. This should be paramount, but I am admittedly a poor communicator when it comes to confronting another person. So, in this regard I need much prayer. So as my blog title reads..."Working with a Micromanager," with is the operative word. Fight on my soul fight on!