jgl.techindustry's picture Submitted by jgl.techindustry on
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Management and Leadership

Hello! I've search around and haven't found a post or podcast that I think would address this; I'm hoping one of you can point me to the best place or has a suggestion.
 
Colleagues and peers at some of our other locations have been giving feedback about my directs to my manager, instead of me. He is passing it to me, which is great, but how do I address this situation?  Thanks for your help!
 

donm's picture
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Submitted by donm on Wednesday November 26th, 2014 5:26 am

In almost every case like this, more communications is what is required. I would ask my peers to give me the input directly, and I would let my manager know that I have asked my peers to do this, and I would further ask him to remind my peers about this. Your boss would most likely prefer not to hear about such things, except when necessary, and most likely will thank you for freeing up his time. He could nip this in the bud by saying, next time, "Have you told JGL? .... No? Then why are you telling me?"

Not one thing that I mentioned above needs to be done in a confrontational manner.

"Hey, Bob! Boss told me you gave him some feedback about Carol. Can I ask you to give me the feedback directly, next time, so I can handle it?"

"Hey, Alice! Boss said you told him you had a problem with Ted's work. Boss is only going to tell me, and I then get your complaint indirectly, which can lead to communications errors. Can you give me the report directly next time?"

If they say something along the lines of, "Well, I thought that boss would need to know this," then you can easily answer, "That's fine, but as So-and-so is my direct report, the resolution is going to come down to my action, anyway. It's easier and quicker to just tell me directly. You're welcome to tell the boss, as well, if you think it is necessary."