My boss is a good guy with great intentions and a friend from many years back. I began working with him two years ago and our problem lies in him giving my staff assignments and work duties without even consulting me. He did so for a year-and-half, and then I got an opportunity to head another division which also came under his supervision, but in an industry that he does not master. After a few months in my new assignment he is doing it again, calling on my staff for information and asking them to report on matters related to current work and completely by-passing me. He does that once and sometimes twice daily. I usually find out from my staff that they’re working on something he’s asked them for. In the beginning I ignored it, then I tried to implement a system where we’re all on the same page – didn’t work, then I confronted him and explained to him he should maintain the chain of command and come through me when he needs information from my staff. Needless to say, nothing worked and this puts a lot of stress on me and my staff. I’ve got a Master of Science in management, worked in big and small organizations for over 25 years and everything I’ve learned tells me what he is doing is wrong. How do I deal with this situation? And, what can I do about it?

The Team Doc Says…

I’ll just cut to the chase on this one. Since this has been going on for so long, I don’t see anything changing. You either need to decide to live with this behavior from your boss or move on.

But there is something you can do to keep yourself in the loop. And that lies with your team members. You should set up a regular schedule of meetings with your team to find out what new assignments they’ve been given by your boss.

Plus you need to institute a communication link from your team when he has assigned them work. Set up some guidelines that require your team members to notify you when your boss has tapped into them. That could be a voice mail, email, or a hop into your office to let you know.

So the key here is to control what you can (as long as you decide to stay in that job), and do your best to ignore the rest.

Do you have any additional advice reader? Please leave a comment.

I have a dilemma in that I started in as a new team leader and had the first meeting with 15 staff. They were rude, disrespectful, etc since they have always had the same leader for a long and did not want a new one. I was able to get control back over the meeting but now realize I have to find a way to work with this team to create a respectful environment and having said that I believe I will need a plan of action. Can you provide me a plan that I could use to get the team back. 

The Team Doc Says…

This is such a bummer for you. Since I know nothing about the make up of your team (or you!), it’s a bit difficult to be very prescriptive with your plan of action.

Here’s what you should do.

Schedule a meeting with every single team member. During that meeting, be empathetic. It’s hard for people to embrace change especially when the person who left the team is someone you loved working for. But that doesn’t mean their behavior is warranted.

What you want to accomplish during the meeting is to find out what makes that team member tick. What their hopes and dreams are within your team and if they have any key issues.

You will have the most success by showing them you care about them and the future of the team. Once you’ve met with each team member, put together a plan of action based on what you heard and what you want to achieve.

What do you think reader? Do you have additional advice to share? Please leave a comment.

Your team perceives that you have a “Favorite Employee”. You feel he / she deserves a promotion and you have the quota for only one promotion. How will you manage your team’s emotions and convince them that the decision you are making is fair and just? What tools can you use throughout the year to ensure that you can justify your decision?

The Team Doc Says…

Well, we all do have favorites, don’t we? But that doesn’t mean we can promote people because they are “our” favorite. So you can get around this by treating everyone the same way. Make sure each person has goals and that you meet with them to report on progress. And you clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the position along with expectations for what skills the ideal candidate would have.

That means you will need to have development plans for each of your team members that identify opportunities for improvement along with goals that will need to be accomplished. HRDQ offers an excellent tool that may work well for you. It’s called Career Anchors and will help you and your employees navigate the career devel0pment landscape. You can pick up a copy of it here.

To give you some short term help, here’s a guide on how to conduct performance reviews.

So I haven’t directly answered your question, but if you treat all of your team members fairly, communicate well and be as transparent as possible, things will work out for you. But also remember, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Perhaps team members who insist on being toxic should be encouraged to move elsewhere within the company.

What about you reader? Any advice to add?

I was wondering if you had any information, or know of any sources that would have information on how long a team leader should remain in that position on high performance teams. I’ve found answers from 1 month to forever, but would really like to nail down a best practice for a Team leader handbook I’m taking part in.

The Team Doc Says…

As long as that person is being effective. I would not place any hard and fast rules or even identify best practices for how long a team leader should remain in that role. As soon as you give it a number, people are going to start using that as a measuring stick and that’s the wrong direction to go.

What you do want to do to determine when is the right time for a team leader to move on is ask questions. Here are a few to start with.

• Is the team leader guiding the team where it needs to go?
• Does the team leader aspire to something different?
• Would the team leader, the team and the company get a better “win” if the team leader were leading a different team?
• Has the team transitioned from one stage to another (e.g., idea stage to implementation) where the team leader is less suited to guiding the team?
• Are the strengths of the team leader the right ones to continue leading the team?

This should get you started. What you can do for your best practice guide is develop a series of questions like the ones above to help drive the decision making for the best time to move a team leader.

What do you think reader? Do you have additional suggestions? Please leave a comment.

How does a manager develop trust in the team?

The Team Doc Says…

Trust is not a right, it is earned. Some team members will trust the manager from the outset, and others will have to see proof. Here are a few ways:

• By doing what you say.
• By communicating openly with your team.
• By actively listening to your team members.
• By allowing team members to take risks and grow.
• By breaking down walls for your team.
• By providing feedback that enables growth.
• By rewarding in public.
• By managing discipline in private.
• By sharing the lead.
• Add yours — please leave a comment below.