What to Do With a Lousy Boss

July 14, 2008 By 4 Comments

More often than not during a workshop, someone will raise their hand and ask, “All of this stuff about being a good leader is nice, but what do I do about my lousy boss?”  Being fairly fast on my feet, I resort to the facilitator’s fail-safe of “asking the audience” before offering my own suggestions on this dicey issue.  Not surprisingly, there are few satisfying answers (that don’t include jail-time for you as a possible outcome) to this dilemma shared by so many. 

Generally, the complaints fall into one of the following categories:

Doesn’t support me

Offers plenty of criticism

Criticizes/berates in public

Contradicts himself/herself

Micromanages and then criticizes me for not making decisions

Takes credit and dispenses blame

Loves his ideas…won’t listen to our suggestions

And so on…

The fact is that as the subordinate you don’t have many good options unless you have grounds for complaint based on harassment, discrimination or other legal concerns.  For sake of discussion, let’s limit the complaint list to the interactions and issues highlighted above.

What’s An Emotionally Abused Employee to Do?

The responses back from other workshop participants fall into similar categories and reflect the limited number of options that the victimized employee truly has in this situation.  (My value-add in italics.)

Approach the manager and provide feedback on the disturbing behaviors.

I like this one, because it reflects that someone is thinking about applying the workshop content to a real situation.  Some well-intentioned managers are not aware of all of their bad habits, and the properly constructed feedback conversation can be a valuable coaching tip for the manager.  Less enlightened managers will respond with anger and/or retribution.  My advice…read the situation, read the manager and it might be worth a carefully constructed conversation to raise the topic.  If the manager views you as wanting to help him/her improve results/performance, you may pull this off.  If you start softly and the conversation quickly deteriorates, bail out.

Take your complaint(s) to HR

HR professionals everywhere may rankle, but I hate this suggestion.  Setting up HR to be the father and mother confessor and creating the expectation that HR can fix all of these issues is poor practice in my opinion.  I’ve worked with a few deft HR professionals that can help individuals and teams navigate this type of a situation, but they are in the minority. 

Leapfrog your boss

This is another risky proposition, and people employing it need to keep in mind that in a “he said/she said” debate between you and your boss, you lose. 

Approach the boss en masse

This, “safety in numbers” strategy has a high failure rate, because when push comes to shove everyone is more concerned about their job than trying to get the boss to change.  If you are leading this charge, be prepared to go it alone.

Transfer within the company

If you like and are committed to the organization, a transfer can be one way to potentially escape a lousy boss.  Follow your firm’s posting rules, don’t do anything behind your manager’s back and hope that he/she doesn’t make the process more difficult for you.  Also, if you apply for and don’t get a job in another department, remember that you still have to work for the lousy boss. 

Leave the organization

This is often the path that good people take, and it certainly solves the immediate problem.  If you do not believe that you can escape the clutches of this lousy manager and if you are not committed to your organization for your near-future growth, exiting stage right is great.  However, look before you leap.  Choosing a job just to escape a boss is an emotionally charged situation that can have you making a bad and potentially career damaging choice.

The Bottom-line for Now:

I suspect like most of the workshop participants seeking wisdom from their peers, that you might leave this post feeling like you didn’t find the answer you were looking for.  My polite rebuttal is that the easy answer you are seeking doesn’t exist.  Most of us have worked for leaders that we’ve not respected and have probably tried some or all of the above approaches along with a “Wait and See” tactic.  Choosing your approach depends a lot upon your situation.  How badly do you need the job?  How comfortable are you in dealing with potential repercussions?  Is your organization’s culture tolerant of aberrant leader behavior or are those types eventually flushed out and eliminated?

My guidance is to take personal stock of your situation, recognize the risks that you are taking in pursuing any line of action (or the psychic damage in doing nothing), prepare and act.  I offer polite, constructive feedback (I coach upwards) and if that doesn’t work, transfer or leave.  Life is short and you should not let your career or your self-esteem be held hostage by some chuckle head of a leader.

Filed Under: Leadership, Surviving Lousy Leaders Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Emerging and Strange Alliance Between Boomers and Millennials

June 24, 2008 By 3 Comments

If you are leading a team today, chances are you are dealing with one of the fascinating experiences of our time: how to manage teams increasingly comprised of aging Boomers and newly graduated Millennials.  Your first thought might be that you couldn’t find two groups farther apart in terms of values, priorities, interests and capabilities. Well, your first thought is wrong.

On the surface, the evidence seems to support your case that Boomers and Millennials are polar opposites.  Consider:

  • Millennials were practically born with a cell phone in one hand and a computer mouse in the other.  They are the most technologically sophisticated generation ever.  While some aging Boomers have embraced technology, for  a large number, many of the latest advancements are truly foreign.  Ask a Boomer to contact someone and they pick up a phone.  While the Boomer is dialing, the Millennial has texted and received an answer, scheduled a social engagement and made small talk about last night’s game, all with their thumbs.
  • Boomers have the benefits that accrue from age and experience.  They’ve forgotten more than the Millennials know about the big bad world, with much of this experience developed during some tumultuous times.
  • Boomers have one eye on retirement and Millennials have both eyes on a bright future.
  • Millennials are used to getting trophies just for participating and Boomers are used to working hard at thankless tasks.  Boomers have put in hard time in organizations that showed them the door without hesitation.  Millennials expect to start a job and be promoted within the first few months.
  • Millennials want to work where and when they want and they are adamant that the conditions are right, the work interesting and that it not interfere with their inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness.  Boomers want….

It’s at exactly this last point that the differences between these two generations begin to melt away with a unique and perhaps surprising alignment developing. Millennials and Boomers share many of the same life and career priorities. Your understanding of this emerging alliance may prove critical as you increasingly deal with managing the generations in the years ahead.

For all of the reasons described above: long years in thankless jobs, falling victim to the lack of corporate loyalty and gaining experience through tough times and hard work, the Boomers can now afford to begin looking at life and career through different lenses.  As the tidal wave of demographic change starts to hit the workforce over the next few years, Boomers will increasingly require:

  • Opportunities that allow them to work when and where they want
  • Interesting assignment that leverage their vast experience
  • Engagements that provide psychic and social rewards
  • Flexibility driven by a high priority on social time.
  • Varying experiences and short-term engagements where they can learn and grow while contributing.

Boomers and Millennials are almost in complete agreement on the above priorities, and while the cynics among us might be quick with “that’s nice, but it’s not reality,” comment, it is most definitely going to be the new reality.  The demographic numbers don’t lie and the world is not growing less complex.

Over the next decade, organizations will increasingly struggle to bring the right talent to bear on executing complex and ever-changing strategies in this global world, and both the Boomers and Millennials are the source of that talent. Enlightened organizations get this situation and are already creating systems and approaches to meet the needs of these critical groups.  Less enlightened organizations will be clubbed over the head by this issue in the not too distant future.

In the interim (between now and the exodus of the boomers), what’s a manager to do?

Some Suggestions for Leveraging the Strange Boomer/Millennial Alliance:

  • Create opportunities to leverage the experience of age and the energy of youth by blending project teams where the respective skills and energies spell success.
  • Use judo on the age differences by openly encouraging Boomers to provide mentoring and guidance on career development and any of the broad areas in business that Boomers are experienced at.
  • Encourage Millennials to educate Boomers on technology, current trends and social issues, and all of those issues that have changed so radically over the past few years.
  • Create and celebrate victories regularly.  The Millennials expect the celebrations and the Boomers are overdue for a few trophies.
  • Embrace this new project-driven world, and provide Boomers with the flexibility to work when they want on projects that truly interest them.  Boomers as contract knowledge workers may be your secret weapon to success in the years ahead.
  • Get rid of the last vestiges of “I have to see someone to know that they are working.”  There’s still some of  this running around and it is silly.
  • Challenge the HR functions in organizations to enable this new alliance and to provide the systems and support necessary for virtual teams and projects and contract knowledge workers. Most of this doesn’t fit the old HR model…and the model has to change.
  • Quit giving lip service to “people are our most important asset” and start living it.  (This is one of the most abused phrases in all of business…stop the abuse.)

The Bottom-Line for Now:

The great news is that for forward thinking managers and organizations, the availability of experienced talent has and will never be better.  The trick of course will be how to capture and benefit from all of that talent.  In my book, recognizing and leveraging the strengths of Boomers and Millennials is essential for success.  The Millennials will moderate over time (as happens with every generation) and the Boomers will ultimately fade into history.  However, for the here and now and for the next decade, managing the generations is one key to success.

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