My newly appointed boss is making life very difficult
I have been with the same company for almost three years. Within the past two months my supervisor has been changed. The new individual has never liked me from the first day I joined the company, and now that I report to him he’s making it very uncomfortable for me to operate on a day-to-day basis.
I am the only person in his department who he treats coldly. He appears to be edging me out of projects and goes out of his way to avoid me. I feel like an outcast in my own department but I really don’t want to have to look for another job.
Jeremy says
If there was an obvious and easy solution to this uncomfortable predicament, you would certainly have thought of it yourself. I assume that you have no idea what, if anything, initially prompted your supervisor’s apparent dislike for you – and I’m not sure it would help very much if you did.
These antipathies are almost always illogical and, once in place, they feed on themselves and become self-perpetuating. Most of us can remember classmates being ostracised at school for no obvious reason – and much the same senseless cruelty can often be found in the workplace. There’s usually a ring-leader – in this case, your supervisor – and it’s not unusual for others for follow his example. I suspect that one or two of your feebler colleagues may also be keeping their distance from you.
Desperation can sometimes force the victim to confront the bully and demand to be given an explanation. This is entirely understandable but very rarely serves any useful purpose. More often than not, the bully pretends not to understand what he’s been accused of and asks for evidence. In your case, I suspect, you’d find it difficult to put the reasons for your unhappiness into words without sounding slightly paranoid: he doesn’t seem to have been guilty of any specific actions that were both witnessed and clearly inappropriate. So while you could certainly appeal over his head to his superior (or HR), realistically I fear it would only make matters a good deal worse.
My best hope is that your company is big enough to accommodate both you and your supervisor without your having to work together. That seems to have been possible for the two years before he took over your department, so it would be well worth seeing if you can negotiate a transfer to another department.
Of course you’ll be asked to give your reasons – and you can truthfully say you’re not getting involved in as many projects as you’d like. It might just work and your supervisor is unlikely to object.
Readers say
• I can understand that you do not want to go looking for another job, but I think you should. You may or may not know why your new boss has taken a dim view of you, but the reason does not really matter, and he is not likely to change. The main thing is that if you stay on, this situation will probably deteriorate further and, as it does, it will affect your self confidence and your competence. My advice is to do your job as well as you possibly can, while looking hard for other opportunities. Hilaris
• Leaving reinforces the idea that a person has no power. Run now and you’ll always be running. Stay and fight – you shouldn’t leave a job you like because some dickhead has a problem. misguided
I’m caught in a power struggle between my manager and a director
I’m in a bit of a muddle at work and feel as though I am being used as a pawn in a personal battle between my manager and the company director. I work in a sales team of six for a not-for-profit organisation. There has been a major shift in direction following the appointment of a new director.
After originally being employed for maternity cover, I was confirmed in a permanent job in November. My manager, who seems to assert his authority at any given chance, said that it was he who decided to give me the permanent job against the wishes of the director, and assured me that he would make sure I received all the training I needed. I later found out that the opposite was true: that it was the director who gave me the job against my manager’s wishes! On top of that, I have since received no extra training.
The job has also changed from single easy course bookings to adding complex in-house events. As the promised training has been non-existent I took it upon myself to attend courses and take on the training I feel I need. The director seems very happy with this and with my approach to work. My manager, however, now seems to have once again taken the opposite view to the director. He says I need to be working harder.
I am the most junior member of our team in every way. Now I feel stuck in the middle and totally confused.
Jeremy says
When innocent people get enmeshed in office politics it can be an absolute nightmare. What seems pretty clear is that your manager has been unsettled by the arrival of the new director and resents him interfering directly with members of his team. So all his actions are designed to impress on you the fact that he’s your boss, not the director. It follows that the more the director is seen to favour you and approve of your approach to work, the more antagonistic your manager is likely to become. And hierarchically, of course, your manager has right on his side.
For the moment I can only advise you to play it strictly by the book. Take your instructions only from your manager – and certainly don’t do anything that looks as if you’re playing one off against the other. I’m sure you’re right in thinking that this is a personal battle between the two of them. The hope, of course, is that they’ll both want to see it resolved, one way or the other. Meanwhile, you’d be wise to look around.
Readers say
• You need to learn how to manage your manager. If the boss comes to your desk and tells you to work harder, agree. Tell them that you would love to work harder but unfortunately the database is not up to date, the intranet is slow, the finance department is not collaborating, the printing company has made a terrible mistake, and would the boss please see to this ASAP as you are in no position to do so whereas he or she is. And how fortunate that they came to see you when you just wanted to speak to them about this. In other words: give them more work to do. Make sure they derive as little satisfaction as possible from harassing you. Stick to this strategy and sooner or later they will stop. Aranzazu
• Is the lady whose maternity leave you were covering back working in the same team? Can you ask her (circumspectly) what she thinks? DrRachelHooke
• Keep your head down and get everything important in writing. With any luck, this internal issue will be resolved. If things remain dreadful look for other avenues once you have 12 months under your belt. xtrapnel
• Why are so many of the really bad working situations featured in this column within the charity or not-for-profit sector? moneyallgone
