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Hi everyone, I am reaching out in hopes of gaining some valuable feedback that can help me with a degrading situation at my current job.
Summary: I recently took over a job with the task of creating a process. This process is in response to a vendor assessment that dinged us for not having this process in the first place. Staff augmentations were approved and I was brought onboard along with my team (5 people). Our main goal was to create and manage the new process.
I should have paid attention to the early signs. During my in-person interview, my direct manager was not a part of the interview panel. I met with peer mangers and a few of the customers that will be stakeholders in the new process. I literally met my new boss the first day I showed up to work. I feel slighted in some way, because we missed the chance to get on the same page.
The new process (as I am sure with anything new) needs Sr. Management buy-in. I try and explain this to my boss on a number of occasions. I created .ppt slides showing the decisions that need to be made along with industry standards on what the new process should contain. I still don’t have direction or guidelines. I can build the house, but I need to know the # bedrooms, the # of baths, etc. His canned response is “I need to see results. You need to meet the date”.
Communications with my boss are in the tank. I got him to start doing one-on-ones with all of his managers, but he doesn’t run them in the most efficient manner. I show up to the 30min meeting, and it turns into a 50min Status Meeting. We don't discuss my concerns/issues with putting the new process together. I don’t feel a part of the Leadership Team, rather just an individual contributor.
Also he does not provide top cover. I am constantly “thrown under the bus” for no reason. An example is a slide deck that I was asked to put together (over Father’s Day weekend mind you) with vague requirements from our VP. I did the best I could, but it wasn’t what my VP wanted. I asked her for feedback on ways I could improve along with the deck that she used instead of mine and she replied “If I have to do this for you, I would imagine I can do it myself” (OUCH! That one stung because I worked on it all day instead of spending Father’s Day with my family.)
I hope I have given you guys enough to provide me with some feedback. I am at the point now where I am starting to doubt this Manger Tools Philosophy. I think Manager Tools is “Perfect World” which is miles away from “Real World”
Thanks for reading. Please let me know your thoughts or if you have questions.
Not sure, but...
When I need input from someone, I've found that they will RARELY develop what I need from scratch, but they are usually 100% OK with critiquing something I've sent or suggested. So, to cut to the chase with your problem. Rather than saying, "How many bedrooms and how many bathrooms," send them blueprints with whatever number of bedrooms and bathrooms you decide, and ask them for their input. You do the work. Let them criticize. Go back and rework the plans accounting for their input.
As far as the deck, why didn't you do an outline and send it for approval prior to doing the slides? It seems you should do a bit more planning and a bit more communicating. It doesn't sound like you were thrown under the bus for the slide deck. It sounds like you didn't define your tasks well enough in advance. If you aren't sure what you should be doing, then ask. Don't ask, "What should I be doing?" Instead: "(Show something) Is this what I should be doing?"