Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 320, Micromanaging the Staff.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 320.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Thank you. as well as comments and ideas from Lucy and me.
While you're on our homepage, you can also download a learning guide to this episode that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions not talked about on the podcast, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is called Micro-Managing the Staff.
It's a dialogue between Barry and Jane about how you should manage or how you should supervise other people.
Let's get started.
Where are you going?
I'm checking up on Rudy.
I gave him a task an hour ago and I want to make sure he's doing it right.
You're not micromanaging again, are you?
Of course not.
I'm only going to observe his work and make sure that he's following the detailed instructions I gave him.
That sounds like micromanaging.
If you're always looking over their shoulders, how are you ever going to develop trust with your employees?
My employees will earn my trust by being meticulous with their work.
Good employees don't mind me monitoring their progress.
That may be true.
But I heard Rudy and Jenna talking and they said they're feeling a little resentful that you don't have more faith in their ability.
They feel like you're treating them as though they're incompetent.
I am not.
You're making me sound like a control freak.
I just call them like I see them.
Micromanaging is a bad tactic, and I can see why your employees are disgruntled.
I resent that.
I have a very good working relationship with my employees.
I'm sure you do.
I was just trying to help.
Fine.
You manage your staff the way you think best, and I'll manage mine.
Our dialogue begins with Barry asking Jane.
Jane responds.
To check up on someone means to review someone's progress, to see how someone is doing.
Usually someone who works for you or someone that you are supervising.
To check up on is a phrasal verb, and it is used here to talk about a boss who is supervising an employee.
Jane says, I gave him, Rudy, a task an hour ago and I want to make sure he's doing it right.
He's doing it correctly.
A task is a small project, usually something at your work, something that you need to do and finish.
Barry says, To micromanage means to try to control all of the details of how someone does his or her work, trying to make sure that you are controlling every little step.
This is often considered a bad idea because your employee doesn't have a chance to develop their own skills properly, But some people obviously think this is necessary in some cases.
Jane says to Barry's question, of course not.
I'm not micromanaging.
I'm only going to observe his work and to make sure that he's following the detailed instructions I gave him.
Jane is going to observe or watch his work.
She's not going to interfere.
She's not going to change anything.
She's just going to look and see what he is doing.
Barry says, that sounds like micromanaging.
If you're always looking over their shoulders, how are you ever going to develop trust with your employees?
The expression to look over someone's shoulder means to watch someone very closely while they are doing something.
So you could be literally actually standing behind the person and looking and seeing what they are doing.
My wife does this sometimes when I'm washing the dishes.
She wants to make sure I'm doing it right.
So she's always looking over my shoulder.
Barry is saying, if you are always checking up on your employees, always observing them, how are you ever going to develop trust with your employees?
Trust is in this case a belief that someone else is good or reliable, a belief that someone else will do something correctly.
Jane says, Notice we use the expression to earn, E-A-R-N, someone's trust.
To earn normally means to get money, to make money.
But here you're saying that you have to do something in order to deserve it, in order to get that reward.
So, her employees will earn her trust by being meticulous.
Meticulous.
M-E-T-I-C-U-L-O-U-S means very careful, very detail-oriented, paying attention to all of the details.
That's meticulous.
Jane says, Good employees don't mind me monitoring their progress.
To monitor means to observe, to watch over closely.
Barry says that may be true, but I've heard Rudy and Jenna talking and they said they're feeling a little resentful that you don't have more faith in their ability.
Rudy and Jenna are Jane's employees.
They've been talking and they feel resentful.
To feel resentful or to be resentful means you're unhappy about something that isn't correct.
That isn't fair.
The noun is resentment.
So the employees are feeling resentful that Jane doesn't have more faith in their ability.
To have faith in something means to trust in something, to believe that something is real or possible.
Barry says Rudy and Jenna feel...
Like you're treating them as though they're incompetent.
Incompetent means unable or incapable of doing something.
Someone who doesn't have the ability to do something.
Someone who hasn't learned how to do something but tries to do it anyway.
We would say they're incompetent.
It's a very negative word. to describe an employee or anyone.
Jane says, I am not, meaning I am not treating them as though they're incompetent.
You're making me sound like a control freak.
A control freak, F-R-E-A-K, two words, is is a person who wants to be in control of everything all the time.
Someone who always needs to be the boss, the person who is taking care of and controlling a situation.
I am a control freak.
My wife is a control freak.
This often causes problems since we both want to be in control.
That's a control freak.
Barry says, A tactic is a way of doing something.
Similar to the word strategy.
It's a tactic.
It's the way I do something.
Barry is saying that micromanaging is a bad tactic.
And I can see, I can understand, why your employees are disgruntled.
To be disgruntled means to be unhappy, to be disappointed, to be annoyed about something that has happened.
Jane says, We had resentful before.
Resent is the verb.
I resent that.
This means I feel sad or disappointed by what you are saying.
Jane says, Barry says, I'm sure you do.
I was just trying to help.
That's an expression we use when the other person is upset by something that you've told him or her, some advice that you gave them that they didn't want.
I was just trying to help.
I'm really not trying to butt in, to butt in.
B-U-T-T.
In is another phrasal verb meaning to become involved in something that you shouldn't be a part of, to try to be part of a situation where you don't have any right to be in.
Jane says to Barry, fine, meaning okay.
You manage your staff the way you think is best, and I'll manage mine.
Meaning, stop trying to interfere with me.
Don't butt in.
Barry says, fine by me.
The expression fine by me means okay, it's all right.
It means I don't have any objection to what you are saying.
Fine by me.
Sometimes we say that after we have a disagreement with someone.
It expresses a little bit of anger, a little bit of disappointment.
At least it does in this dialogue.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Where are you going?
I'm checking up on Rudy.
I gave him a task an hour ago.
I want to make sure he's doing it right.
You're not micromanaging again, are you?
Of course not.
I'm only going to observe his work and make sure that he's following the detailed instructions I gave him.
That sounds like micromanaging.
If you're always looking over their shoulders, how are you ever going to develop trust with your employees?
My employees will earn my trust by being meticulous with their work.
Good employees don't mind me monitoring their progress.
That may be true, but I heard Rudy and Jenna talking and they said they're feeling a little resentful that you don't have more faith in their ability.
They feel like you're treating them as though they're incompetent.
I am not.
You're making me sound like a control freak.
I just call them like I see them.
Micromanaging is a bad tactic, and I can see why your employees are disgruntled.
I resent that.
I have a very good working relationship with my employees.
I'm sure you do.
I was just trying to help.
I'm really not trying to butt in.
Fine.
You manage your staff the way you think best, and I'll manage mine.
Fine by me.
The script for this podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
