Q & A Table of Contents
He Goes To My Staff Behind My Back
From: Dita, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Question: My boss interferes with my work. He constantly tries
to manage my team. He takes the team members out for coffee
without informing me. He meets with them without informing me.
So now the team members are communicating with him instead of
me. I am very good at my job. My client is very happy with me
and I know he wont let me go. Even my boss acknowledges that.
Then why is he doing this. Should I speak with him directly?
Response: You should definitely ask your boss what is going
on. However, before you do that you should do some serious
homework. Talk to trusted members of your team as
diplomatically as possible to see if you can learn whether
your boss raises any issues that relate to you as an
individual, as a supervisor, as an employee, etc.
You need to think very hard about what kind of information you
need to have before talking with your boss — and understanding
what you need to know will help you figure out what questions
to ask your team members. If you have the opportunity to talk
with your boss’s supervisor or his peers that might also be a
good way to learn more about his personality, what issues he
may be pursuing, and how any of that may impact on your
situation.
In effect you need to learn whether you have reason to be
paranoid about your boss’s behavior or whether he is a control
freak whose capacity to delegate authority is weak. For all
you know he might be interested in grooming you for a
promotion, for more responsibility, or something else — and
his communication with members of your team may be part of his
assessment process.
The crucial thing is: don’t make assumptions. Figure out what
you need to know, undertake the research to learn that
information, use it when you decide whether to talk with your
boss, and use that information to set your substantive and
procedural agenda if you do talk with him.
Good luck,
Steve
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