Senior manager’s lack of people skills causes conflict / loss of valuable employees - sound familiar?

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Dear Joan:

I work for a software company. My immediate manager is very nice, but her manager is a micro-manager. He has a history of getting involved in minute details, well beyond what you would consider normal for an upper manager. If you disagree with what he says, he calls you inflexible. Yet, he hasn't taken the time to learn the daily work we do, so he really doesn't understand our jobs or processes.

There is a trail of bodies of people who left or transferred out of his chain of command, and I believe at least some of these have pointed him out as a main reason for leaving. I have talked with HR and another upper manager about him. Supposedly he was being put on a short leash, yet we are at the start of another big cycle and he is repeating the same behavior that caused our entire department grief last release – he’ll change this, that, or the other thing just to show he did something.

There are many more things I could describe, but the bottom line is I don't understand why management is closing a blind eye to the destructiveness of this person. I can only guess they don't value what we do enough to take some real action. We get just lip service.

Everyone in our group feels the same. I really like the company and my job. I just wish he would leave us alone and we would be ok. But he won't. I've been looking around at other jobs/companies but the thought of changing companies because of one person doesn't sit well with me. I get paid a good salary and like my colleagues.

Is there anything you can suggest doing that has not already been done, short of leaving?

Answer:

Let me guess…he used to be a technical guy who was really good at his job and then he got promoted to a manager job. Then he handled himself well with senior management and so he got promoted again. He never had any formal training or coaching about what a manager is supposed to do. Since he doesn’t know how to manage people, he tries to manage their work—even do it for them, reaching around your boss to muck around with her team’s work.

He knows he is accountable for the work of his department, and with the new software release, he steps up the control. The problem is that he takes accountability literally, owning each project—even two levels down--second-guessing employees’ actions, making their decisions, even though he is far removed from the day-to-day reality.

If this seems pretty accurate, it’s not because I’m clairvoyant. It’s because his profile is all-too-typical. He doesn’t understand how to set expectations and outcomes and then get out of his employees’ way. Instead of teaching his manager and her employees to fish, he’s baiting the hook, casting the rod and pulling the fish in the boat.  It’s not much fun watching someone else have all the fun. What’s worse, when they try it on their own, he tells them they are doing it all wrong. No wonder they are leaving in droves.

Senior management typically moves slowly in cases like these. They, too, are removed from the situation and are usually exposed to only the numeric results of the department—not how it’s managed. If the work of the department is pretty solid, they hesitate to remove a leader, since they aren’t sure just how bad it really is. Unless there is a pattern of exit interviews or complaints, they hesitate to push someone out the door.

In your case, it sounds as if there is a pile of bodies that is hard to ignore. However, if people left and didn’t cite him as the cause, senior management would not know how serious the problem is. Because people are reluctant to burn a bridge behind them, they may have left and said nothing. And if your manager is keeping her mouth shut—which is likely, since you said her manager doesn’t like people to disagree with him—then senior management may not be fully aware of the situation.

You have already complained to HR and to another senior manager. To raise a bigger ruckus would not put you in a good light. Recognize that you aren’t in a position to make him change. And until more people leave and implicate him, or complain consistently, he will probably keep his job. The only hope is if, indeed, he is on a “short leash.” The outcome depends on who is holding the other end.

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