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Career Q&A: Stay professional in face of upsetting workplace change

 
Published April 21, 2015

Q: Two days ago, I received an email from my manager saying that "Jenny," one of my co-workers, will now be reviewing everything I do. I am extremely unhappy about this change, which came as a complete surprise. In fact, I was so angry that I almost started to cry.

Our boss loves Jenny and always agrees with her opinions. Even though Jenny and I have the same job title, my boss treats Jenny like her personal assistant. I actually do more work than Jenny, but that doesn't seem to matter.

I am extremely productive and conscientious, so being monitored by a co-worker feels humiliating. I can only assume that Jenny has been complaining about me in order to improve her own position. What can I do about this?

A: Your boss must have missed the management lesson on communication, because sending this pronouncement via email was absolutely inexcusable. Bad news should always be delivered personally, and any halfway intelligent manager would realize that, from your perspective, this is a most unwelcome change.

Unfortunately, your cowardly boss has provided you with a conclusion, but no explanation. Therefore, the first order of business is to find out why this decision was made. Despite having a natural desire to stomp your feet and scream favoritism, you must control your emotions and make this inquiry in a calm, professional manner.

For example: "I wanted to ask you about the new process for reviewing my work. I can certainly run my reports by Jenny if you wish, but I was curious about the reason for the change. Are there some areas where I need to improve?"

Once you understand your manager's motivation, you can decide on the appropriate response. If she expresses concerns about your job performance, then you obviously need to address them. If she is delegating this task to lessen her workload, perhaps you can suggest some alternate strategies.

But if her objective is to prepare Jenny for promotion, you might as well just smile and say okay. After that, you can privately assess how this development may affect your own career decisions.

How to compensate for a scattered boss

Q: We recently got a new manager who is totally disorganized. "Rick" will tell us to do something, then after we finish, he says that it was not at all what he wanted. Rick also forgets a lot of things after we talk about them. Our team is getting confused and discouraged. How do you work for someone who is a complete space cadet?

A: To get what you need from this scattered boss, you and your colleagues may now have to put much more effort into "managing up."

Disorganized managers frequently fail to convey expectations clearly. Because they think about results in general terms, they simply don't consider many details. Then, when a project is complete, they are dismayed to discover that the finished product doesn't match their mental picture.

To minimize these unpleasant surprises, try to extract Rick's hidden assumptions at the beginning of a project. By asking reasonable questions, you may be able to explore his thinking and better define what he's looking for. You might also propose some possibilities and see how he reacts.

At the start of any new activity, build in some feedback points to get Rick's view of your progress. If he has an opportunity to approve plans, review drafts, evaluate prototypes, or provide input on key decisions, he is much more likely to be happy with the final result.

To compensate for Rick's unreliable memory, put important meetings on his calendar, send friendly reminders about critical dates and follow up discussions with an email summarizing conclusions and agreements. While all this may sound like a lot of extra work, in the long run it will make your life much easier.