Clueless Boss Propped Up By Her Reports

[designs216]

So the corner office installed a new marketing supervisor with zero mgmt experience in our dept and now we're expected to prop her up. The MO has been to cut my visibility/claim credit for my work. Behind the scenes she's constantly asking my advice so she can appear to be a competent contributor. Any advice for dealing with the deadwood saboteur?

 

[diane143]

Were you asked to train her? Can you cc someone everytime she emails you for help?

I'm sure you have enough of your own work to do......

 

[joec1101]

You just described just about all of corporate America. The "upper management" always takes/gets the credit for the work their employees have accomplished. Typical "upper management", including a lot of people with so called MBA degrees, don't have a ****ing clue how to run things. They depend on everyone underneath them to get work done and make them shine.

Unfortunately, you will most likely have the same situation if you move to a different company.

It does suck, but it is the way the world is now.

Best advice is don't teach them everything, for your own job security.

 

[Apple fanboy]

If they are really that incompetent, hopefully your bosses boss will notice at some point. Other than that, keep the advice to a minimum and give her multiple options. That way if you suggest a couple of different solutions and she chooses the wrong one, well it's her mistake. Also keep a record (ideally by email communication) of which idears were yours etc.

 

[samiwas]

So the corner office installed a new marketing supervisor with zero mgmt experience in our dept and now we're expected to prop her up. The MO has been to cut my visibility/claim credit for my work. Behind the scenes she's constantly asking my advice so she can appear to be a competent contributor. Any advice for dealing with the deadwood saboteur?

I know what it's like. I was up for promotion along with another guy many years back. I was far more knowledgable than the other guy, and could run a crew much better than he could, but he got the promotion because "he had been there longer" and because he was a real good schmoozer, which I was not. I ended up still doing all his work in addition to my work while he played on his computer.

In fact, even when a big issue came up and I was already working on another one, and I radioed him about the big issue, he just replied "well, when you finish with what you are working on, go work on that one next." And he usually got the credit for things going so well.

Sometimes, the people who get the big spots have absolutely no business being in them.

 

[designs216]

Were you asked to train her? Can you cc someone everytime she emails you for help? I'm sure you have enough of your own work to do......

I was not asked explicitly to train her. She's old school so the phone or drop in's are more her style. We're trying to keep a record of emails so when she makes a big mistake, it won't be possible to throw one of us under the bus.

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...
Unfortunately, you will most likely have the same situation if you move to a different company.
...

My thought is that though the mgr position I've been waiting for has been randomly given away, it may be had if I get it going in at another company.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My company nearly always promotes from without.

 

[designs216]

My company nearly always promotes from without.

Happens all the time but makes sense from a certain point of view -- the boss's. Why increase pay and give Mgr title, when I can force/cooerce someone to do that job at their current salary? If I have to bring in someone, that person has more negotiating power before they sign (to demand Mgr title for example) than they will ever have during their tenure.