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Control Freaks Power Plays and Players

We write reports for our manager and carefully follow her guidelines, but she rewrites our work, saying that we are not giving her high quality. We think our work is fine, and she just has this thing about rewriting whatever is given to her. What should we do?


It sounds like you report to a controlling manager who may be getting a little out of control. There are some managers who cannot stand anything in print unless it has their imprint.

On the one hand, it is important for a manager to maintain high standards, and this can call for some tweaking and editing of the work produced by the staff. Some managers may also do this in order to take several reports and put them into one voice for final presentation.

However, when a manager regularly rewrites the staff's work, he or she may actually be causing the staff to produce marginal work. If employees figure that whatever they write is going to be rewritten, they tend to feel that it is a waste of time to do a first-rate job.

On the next project, meet with your manager ahead and see if she would be willing on a one-time basis to try to let the bulk of your work stand as is. It will then be your job to submit an outstanding report. Her reaction is going to tell you a great deal about your future reports and reporting relationship.



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