[Mike2000]

Hi there,

Would appreciate the opinion of a professional psychologist on this one.

Our supervisor at work appears to have a constant fear of other people making mistakes. He is extremely distrustful of any work done by anyone else and is unusually fearful that they have made mistakes. This causes him to (a) harass them to constantly recheck their own work themselves and (b) he rechecks their work himself anyhow.

This attitude applies to both coworkers and everyone: customers, suppliers, outside CPA and attorneys, as well as everyone else in the world, for example store cashiers, airline staff, customers.

He is hypervigilant for mistakes made by others.

Please help me get a differential diagnosis for him.

I have considered:
Erratophobia - not relevant, because it's fear of making mistakes ONESELF.
Paranoia - he does meet some of the criteria, but not all. He is suspicious and mistrustful but his fear is different.
OCD - he does have some of the criteria, e.g. constant rechecking, but his behavior is focused more on others than on himself.
GAD - seems possible???
Specific phobia - seems possible???

I would appreciate your help, people.
Why is it important? Because it would help us at work to understand what is going inside his head. And because maybe we could use some techniques to help him - and us.

Thanks!

[CANDC]

Hi Mike2000. Welcome to Psych Central. I am sorry you have challenges you face at work. Getting a diagnosis for someone else is not something that is easily done.

Psych Central is a peer to peer support site and people here are asked by the community guidelines to post as a peer to another peer. So your best bet if your supervisor wanted mental health support was for them to get professional advice is to search for a professional in your area, but it sounds like this may be more your idea than theirs.

The other thing is diagnosis is not simple and can require multiple visits to a professional. Any opinions you get here are only opinions of people.

But Psych Central does help a lot of people find a community of like minded people that share ideas. Hope you find the support you are looking for here.

While I can appreciate the problems this is causing for you we are not in a position to make any diagnosis. It would not be our place to do so.

With that said, I believe to an extent you could be describing me. I set very high standards for myself; and, as a result I have reasonably high expectations of those around me. However, as a manager, I did not micromanage (for this is what you are describing) my subordinates choosing instead to lead from within. It was a 'do-as-I-do' and providing an, albeit high standard, example of performance.

The litmus test to this is whether this leader is prepared to do the work he expects of his subordinates. For me, the first rule of leadership is to never expect someone to do a task or perform at a level I wouldn't do myself.

I believe it fair of him to question the performance of the team. However, micromanaging is not the way to do it. Rather some encouraging coaching would be the appropriate fix.

What you describe does seem to be a case of overdoing it. He himself needs a coaching conversation on how to lead. I ask you to consider though the leadership style and performance expectations of his own leaders above him.

What needs to happen is the dissemination of the message of the standards expected. They need to be reasonable, and measurable.

As for his psychological mindset, my own performance has always be dictated by a high level of anxiety and catastrophic thinking.

What can you do? Communication goes both ways. Inform him you are unsure of the manner of his delivery of leadership. Ask him to lay out his expectations he has for you offer for him the steps you would like to take to achieve that. I'm sure he will appreciate this. If you cannot come to an agreement then escalate it to his own superiors. Try to offer both example of his problem behavior and what you see may be a solution.

[Thunder Bow]

No dx, but he seems to be into controlling people. Over controlling I should say. The need for control comes from anger and insecurity. He has a need for attention as well. What he is doing is a form of bullying.