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Boss difficulty..

SarahT93

Hi All,

I'm really struggling with the way my boss works and communicates.

I'm trying my best to send through work for her to check (multiple times), trying to communicate the best I can, explaining the best I can how I work. The rest of the team get it and try to accommodate which I really appreciate. However, my boss just doesn't seem to want to meet me halfway with this. I just got yelled at for sending something out to our team in europe that had a 'mistake' (in her eyes) on it. I've given her plenty of time to read through, sent it to her to check multiple times, even got on a teams call to go through it with her and yet it's suddenly MY fault it's been missed? (I work in an industry where work MUST be checked before it goes out). She works in such an 'all over the place' way and specifically communicates verbally as that works best for her (and worst for me). It's really confusing to me.New

I don't think she understands the way she communicates really confuses me and hurts? How can I bring this up with her or anyone that could help? It's making me want to quit which is a lot for me as I hate change.

  • As a long term manager in different corporate environments my advice would be:

    1 - reality check
    2 - build your case
    3 - engage with your boss
    4 - escalate if needed

    1. Remember that the basic principle of being managed is that you do what you are told so long as this is reasonable. If it is reasonable and you don't like it then you can ask for accommodations to be made, but don't count on this happening. It sucks but that is the way of the environment.

    If you are sending something out that has a mistake, but not in your opinion then get this in writing. Don't argue the toss over it but state why you thought it was acceptable and get your boss to write back to clarify what specifically is wrong so you don't make the same "mistake" again.

    Remember to thank them for their feedback and advice as the chances are they are struggling in their own way too.

    2 & 3 - keep your communication in writing. You may need to escalate this to Human Resources or your managers manager so you need to have ample, clearcut proof that you are being more than reasonable and your manager is not. This will take some time to build up and make sure you ask for responses in writing or (if they are only verbal) then write to say "this is what I understood from our discussion, can you confirm please".

    4 - In the event of your manager refusing to do this, have a quiet informal work with her manager if you can - ask for advice rather than complaining or being negative if you can at all help it and try to think what sort of outcome would actually work for you.

    Managers tend to prefer it if you bring a possible solution to a problem so they don't have to think too much about it (they normally have way more work on than you may realise) and can just rubber stamp it should it be a simple solution.

    Only once you have gone through your chain of command without action would I escalate to the HR dept as this can be seem by your manager as declaring war and things often turn sour. By this stage you need to be prepared to leave the job as it can become unbearable sometimes, or you end up being put in a position where you are constructively dismissed.

    I hope this helps - I'm trying to see it from both sides of the fence and let you know the possible outcomes as I see them.

    Good luck.