I work with a boss that I really like and she is fairly new to our department. When she came in she looked at our job duties and confirmed them for each of us. However, I have noticed that she regularly performs one of my tasks. I believe that my tasks are really meant to make her life easier and I am very conscious of covering my tasks to the best of my ability. Recently, I talked to her about how it makes me feel when she performs one of my job duties. I told her that I could not help but wonder if my boss thinks I am doing a good job or that she trusts me. She jumped right in and began explaining and defending herself and then told me that she is a “doer.” I was left with the perception that she was not listening and feels justified jumping in at any time. I have found that she does this to other members of the department too.
The Team Doc Says…
Hmmm. Doer or not, she is wasting the company’s time and money by doing your work. They hired her to be your supervisor, not to do your work. Since it’s happening to everyone, I wouldn’t worry too much about her not trusting you to do your job. But the listening issue is definitely a concern.
Since she’s your boss, and you’ve already gone the discussion route, I’m not seeing much additional action you can take unless you can get the entire team together and talk about team roles. This could help you get agreement from everyone on who does what when but she still may not have a clue how much it bugs you and your team members. It may just be something you’ll have to live with as long as you stay at this company.
Sorry, not the best advice as frankly, this one has me a bit stumped. Readers, can you add your thoughts to the mix and give us some help here by leaving a comment? Thank you.
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the reason why your boss does your tasks is not clear, nonetheless It may be either due to the fact that you are not delivering anything, your boss is inexperienced at the post she is now, she is inexperienced of leadership, delegation and mangement or the organization you work for does not have any clear demaraction on jwho should do what (job description). You have to be quick enough to accomplish your tasks and deliver results, press for having a clear job description and identify areas where you have to team up with your boss or other colleagues,
Well, it seems to me that you have another “problem” manifested by your boss – she’s not a good listener.
In this situation I would address my boss about this too, i.e. that I felt he/she was not a good listener. In this case, the SBI feedback routine is going to be very useful (Situation, Behaviour, Impact). Surely, this issue has to be tackled before any others can be reasonably resolved.
You have already identified situation (when you tried to give feedback), behaviour (defensive remarks, cutting off talk) and impact (you feel powerless to get problems resolved with your boss). Now’s the time to let your boss know about this.
From personal experience, I can say that this technique really works, if the person on the receiving end is willing to change, and this is facilitated by not giving the feedback in an attacking manner.
In my experience I have found that new managers or managers who are unsure of their abilities may tend to behave in this way.
You have started the process with your initial conversation with her and I would suggest you follow this up again with her at your next one to one meeting.
Explain that you are confused after your responsibilities were confirmed that she feels responsible for this particular area
Ask her if she has any concerns about your ability to perform the task in hand
Reiterate that if this is your responsibility then you would appreciate her giving you the freedom and autonomy to carry this out and ask her how much involvement she would like and tell her that you are happy to report to her on the task and update her as required
Hope this helps!
I would be requesting at my next supervision that job roles are on the agenda with the aim of ensuring clarity around responsibilities. If she insists that the role you once performed is now better performed by her function, request and then ensure this is justified and put in writing within your notes.
I would say she is trying to justify & establish herself within her new role & her line manager has not yet tasked her with a demanding work load, so she needs to enforce her management by taking on functions that need not concern her. Give her time to settle into her new role & she soon won’t have the time to involve herself within your workload.
I think she is in the level of “IN-COMPETENCY LEVEL” If I am her boss I will not promote her to higher position .
Perhaps, as a new supervisor, she is trying to get a feel for what the department does and by doing some of these tasks, is working to expand her own understanding of what needs to be done (and then can “train” others when needed). She may feel that learning from the “ground up” is what she needs to do to feel competent in this new position. She may be insecure in her supervisory skills so that by doing subordinate work she can keep her “ear to the ground” so to speak. I would like to believe that as she grows into the supervisory aspects of her position, she’ll leave your tasks behind and become the supervisor & leader she’s supposed to be.
(I am not oblivious to the possibility that your new supervisor is a potential micro-manager who feels that no one else is capable of performing these tasks correctly! Whether she says this directly or not!)
Not everyone is a great supervisor–it takes a great deal of time, willingness to learn and willingness to lead!
I agree with the SBI feedback path – with the proviso that your boss is prepared to change in the first place, if not remember the broken record technique, it can work!
As a new supervisor myself, I understand the desire to dig in and just ‘do’. However, it is in appropriate and now that you have made your feelings known, take the next step. Ask her if she would like the information (job) done sooner and if there is additional information she would like added to it. If she sees you are still doing the job and asking for her input, she may back off. I would. If she insists on doing that job for you, ask her to give you another assignment that would allow you some growth and new experiences. One of the key responsibilities of any supervisor is to help the staff under their responsibility to grow. She should be helping you and providing you new opportunities. A trade of responsibility could be in order. (mMybe something she wouldn’t mind letting go of that could help you make your mark in another area.)
Your boss ,maybe is over enthusiastic about her new position,she also could be a novice in managerial leadership.Her claims that she is a doer are baseless if she fails to coach and mentor surbodinates, she has a serious problem of failure to delegate and listen.The fact that she is blocking communication which is supposed to be a two way process leaves you with no option besides also engaging you boss’s superior and seek redress.
Most new supervisors have trouble learning the art of delegation. If your supervisor is a rookie then you need to simply “Ask why your superviosr is doing a task or responsibility that you should be doing. This was step 1 and you didn’t like the answer. Either she doesn’t have a clear understanding of her responsibilites or she is uncomfortable with your output and/or quality of output. Being a “doer” doesn’t mean or shouldn’t mean doing someone else’s job. That is an enabler or micromanager. Being defensive is a symptom of insecurity and this is common with many new supervisors. Now that you have had a discussion give this some time to see if she relinquishes this task to you. if not beat her too the punch on completing the task. However, be careful if your quality of output is better she may become more defensive but will learn that you are very capable of completing this task and then maybe she will go on to managing her own responsibilites better.
I guess your boss is a technical manager and since she is new to this department, she might wish to demonstrate to her staff that she is capable and keen on helping her staff for their works. Think it positively, she may be a good manager who can support her staff whenever they are in needs in future. On a negative side, she might has problem on management soft skills and that she is now frustrated on how to protect or enhance her image as a new boss towards her staff.
I think all of you should have open dialogue with the boss, to clarify with her on the job duties for each staff members, talk about the staff feelings on her current action and tell her about the staff’s expectation on her support levels in a friendly manner. If she is a good boss who is willing to listen to their concern, I am sure that all of you should be able to come up with some compromise ways to try for improving the relationship and avoid misunderstanding. If that is not the case and she continues to jump in at any time unreasonably, you may need to observe if there are any specific tracks or kinds of work that she is really interested to handle / has confident and likes to jump in, you may try if there are any internal workaround solution to avoid duplicate works when she is there. If all efforts have tried and still has no justification, what you can do is to continue tolerate it or quit the job when the market is getting better in future.
I agree rproctor – new to the department but not new to the company.
Has she asked where the data for your work comes from? She may not want to appear ineffective to her upline and trys to figure out systems, and company dynamics by “doing”.
Try to be proactive and supportive. The more she knows, the more she trusts you. Schedule another meeting and review this particular piece of work. Advise that you would like to develop an SOP or process map for the work in question. You look like a star in desiring to beeter the department and she gets the info she needs. with this type of a meeting, you’ll know if there truly is a listening problem.
It’s possible that the new supervisor is a micro-managing freak with no listening skills who hates to be told what to do and will go down in history as “one of the worst bosses ever.”
It’s also possible that since she is new, she is trying to learn the business and may even have wanted to create a relationship with you by helping. She may have felt rejected by you because you didn’t appreciate her efforts.
I would advise taking the high road and assuming a positive intent. Thank the supervisor for her efforts and offer to help her learn any procedures that may be new. The only person you can really change is yourself so look to see if there is anyway you can make this a better relationship. Examine why this makes you feel so threatened and try to see things from a different perspective. After all, she IS the supervisor; doesn’t she get to allocate the work?
And if time proves that this supervisor is too insecure/untalented/unmotivated to be someone you want to work with, then you will need to find someone who is a better fit.
BTW, my relatively new boss is training another employee to do a task I really liked to do and felt was part of my personal expertise. It felt like a bit of a “no confidence vote” until I reframed it for myself as an opportunity for someone else which gave me an opportunity to learn something different.
Your Boss seems to possess “Autocratic Leadership” style. She wants to take credit to herself. She is a type”do it my way.” She sees herself as a “can do” leader.
She is status concious, solo performer. In India we have been facing with this type of style. So long she is going to be your boss, I am afraid, you will have to keep your ego out, try to understand her, do not offer any resistance, have patience & atmost tolerance. Give her full understanding, support her. You will have to develop tolerence if you want to continue your job. Please do not run away from reality. Only rough seas produce best captains. It is a challange & accept. Do not argue with her otherwise she will bulldose you because of her dictetorial style. Try to understand & study why she has been brought in?
Sudhir Shah- Trainer & Management Consultant
In any business you have to understand that you might be right but your boss has the might of managerial authority, (even if lacking in managerial maturity) Sadly all too often managerial authority takes precedence over “moral right”
In a matter like this, however, you’ll have to take the matter a bit further as her performance may affect your performance review. If this task is one of your KPA’s and she insists on doing it, you should ask to have it removed from your delegated duties and allocated to hers. Just make sure that you document the entire process. Follow verbal discussions up with a confirmation mail or memo. If you ask to have your tasks reallocated she might take the matter seriously.
If you feel strongly enough about it perhaps you could ask a senior manager to have a word with her, she might just need a little bit of coaching as she is perhaps feeling insecure in her new role and is taking on all the work in an effort to make an impression.
In the mean time you must remain professional and focus on doing what you have left to do to the best of your ability. Do not let her behaviour influence you. She will move on but your reputation stays with you.
Since your boss is performing some of your job tasks, you probably have some time to fill. You could look at the other tasks that are a part of your boss’s job description and identify a few that you could do. Once you have done your homework so that you are prepared, ask for a meeting with your boss. Explain that since she is completing some of your work, you would like to fill that time with other productive work. Identify for her the tasks that you would be able to take over for her and ask that she help you decide which she would like to delegate to you. This will be more effective if you happen to enjoy doing something that she does not enjoy doing. You may end up with a more interesting and challenging job, or she may decide to let you perform the tasks stated in your job description. If your job description does change, be sure those changes are made on your official job description. That documentation will verify that she agrees to the changes in your job.
Good luck; I hope the two of you are able to come to a workable solution.
Everyone raises a range of very good points, and I don’t disagree with anyone. However, if the first law of performance is correct, then how this manager is behaving correlates to how the workplace (the world) situation occurs to them. I find it extremely difficult to give advice when I don’t know the person and have the opportunity to ask questions which help me to get a clear picture of who that person is, what their past experiences have been, how they see the workplace and what they see their role to be. But asking these questions as a subordinate is quite difficult and implies a process of managing up. if you have the opportunity to have her undivided attention say in a supervision, coaching, or mentoring session, then maybe an approach is one of being inquisitive – “I would love to get to know you better and for you to get to know me better with a view that these mutual insights and understandings may help us to build a great positive working relationship.” You could kick off by offering to share yourself with her (?). I have always found that this type of dialogue is very effective in breaking down barriers and removing the mist covered understanding that is bought to bear through making assumptions and trying to second guess the other person’s motives, passions, drives, etc…. Yes, this takes time. Patience is very important here, but holding out the so called olive branch rather than engaging in a game based on trial and error, will eventually bear the fruit you are seeking. I would draw your attention to Appreciative Enquiry as a process which helps to get the questions right for positive outcomes (just Google it).
Dear,
It looks your Boss is not aware of her job responsibilities,authorities and accountability hence she is looking after your job. or there are the chances she is not having complete faith upon you,might be the feed back she got about you from some sources is not good,Try to convience her that you are the right guy to perform the job alooted to you.Secondly,if there is any problem you consult her.
There are so many dynamics that can be going on here, that it is difficult to really pin-point an answer. It could be as simple as something outside work triggered an inappropriate response on the day you approached her, as complex as personality preferences, or one of the many reasons described in other posts. Here’s one other perspective.
There is a psychological process (called transition) we all go through then there is a change. There is a period of loss, a time of uncertainty, and then we begin to feel like things are back to normal. You have had a change in leadership. That’s significant! For the boss, the loss may be feeling a sense of accomplishment. She has a big learning curve. Perhaps the only thing she feels she has any control over right now is this one task that may give her that sense of getting something done. For you, it may be a similar loss. With your old boss you knew how to meet his or her needs and felt successful. Now, you are unsure. There is a lot of emotion in this early stage of transition which can trigger defensiveness and insecurity on both sides. I’m not defending her behavior, but acknowledging the both of you are in transition and this is normal. How we handle it is the challenge.
Since you are both in the process of trying to establish a good working relationship, I would take a breath and ask myself a couple of questions. Why do you think this task is so important to her? Does it help her get a better sense of the work? Does it give her a sense of accomplishment? It may give you a different perspective. And you need to consider for yourself, of all the responsibilities you have on her behalf, why is this one task so important to you? Can you relinquish it for a while or take on something that you’ve always wanted to try?
It seems that your managers is new. Many new managers who are uncomfortable with their new job tend to fall back on things that they are more comfortable with instead of developing their mangerial skills or do not have a full understanding of their job responsibilities. What do you do? You did well by talking to her regarding your job performance and to be it was up to standard. Knowing that she is doing this to other employees lets you know that it is most likely not a performance issue. It would not hurt to get your job responsibilities documented. Compliment her when you see her doing her manageral jobs well. Try to be patient with her as she learns her new job, offer encouragement as often as you can.
One thing that you could do is to suggest to everyone that they right their job descriptions down. This is an exercise that can not only help someone to further develop and become more aware of their duties; but it also puts in place a check and balance system if you will. This is really something that should already be documented, after all, what would happen if “Nancy from down the hall” were hit by that proverbial bus one day and couldn’t perform her job any longer. By doing this you will have created a check list for your supervisor to refer to. If there is something that she would like to learn how to do; she knows who to ask. If there is something that did not get done; she knows who to ask. If she does not know who to speak to about certain issues regarding certain tasks; she knows who to ask. I think you can get where I am going ith this. Baically having everyone complete a “job description,” may actually help your new supervisor to ’see for herself’ exactly what she should and should not be concerning herself with. Hope this helped!
Let it be. Continue doing your work to the best of your ability. Don’t mind your boss, or don’t be affected by her work style. You’re not working for her, your working for the company. It could be that although she’s doing it, she’s also reading or looking at your work and then finding out whether you’re both in the same level of competence. Anyway, that’s her way or style of management. Maybe before she became your boss she was loaded with work that now that she’s the boss se feels uncomfortable having free or idle time. So instead of spending her free/idle time looking over the shoulders of her subordinates or watching them and comments on their performance, she occupies herself doing things demanded of her unit/section by the company. Since she’s new in ther present unit she may not yet been given heavy load or extra work by the big boss, but when the time comes where she is given more than the routine superviswory work by top management, I’m prettty sure she will not have time to do the things that are supposed to be done by you and your co-subordinates.
One other advice, never tell your boss how to run her/his outfit; that’s an isssue between her/his own big boss.
All the best.
From my personal experience and knowledge, lot of big companies nowadays, trained their newly hired bosses in dealing their subordinates through experiencing their specific jobs. It means that they are maybe required to do so or it she maybe required herself to be within the nature of your work for her to understand the efforts and dedication that you may have given for your regular task.. Some bosses are actually in the manner of being at what do we sometimes called as at the level of the normal employees for them to get the better understanding when it comes to dealing their individual characters. The intention is genuine and clean but it perhaps twisted to be misunderstood due to lack of proper explaination or discussion from her side… In the side of the staff, we have to be affirmative in seeking feedback and mostly be polite. In that way, friendly conclusion of the matter will be achievable towards a smooth working environment within the staff and the direct report.
I agree with the comments made previously. My concern is that she is very uncomfortable in her position. It is best that the team meet with her to voice their opinion about her communication style. She may not realize that she is creating a non-responsive team.
The problem will surface during your performance evaluation where she will elude to your lack of performance in taking care of details. Remember she has the examples of doing the work for you.
i am in the very same situation with my supervisor doing my job as above. it gets very annoying as i am the doer and earned my job and she got hers handed to her on a silver platter and i really think that insecurities comes into it alot. my boss also was a friend and always borrowed off me and always use to remark that i am more qualified in the work that we do so i really feel for the person who is going thru the same thing. thank you team doc for your guidance very much appreciated.