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So I am having a clear issue with a "superior" of mine. I am sensing he is more concerned with saving his butt with our boss, then really treating me fairly.
Overall he has been a cool guy, but very lax on reviewing work with me, always just doing a cursory review and he is the expert so he is supposed to be relied on for the work...while I am just basically a glorified admin.
We had a very tight deadline, well he makes it a tight deadline, I deliver ahead of schedule my part and then he always has these "surprise" issues with his laptop where he cant connect to his laptop at home which results in him not being able to take care of the issue until the next morning. As a result of that, it creates a tight deadline for me again because after his review of my work all of a sudden I am on mach speed to deliver our work to the client within 10 minutes of a meeting. This is again, created by his last minute crap.
Yesterday after another one of these cases he called me and asked how I thought the meeting went. I told him I thought fine overall. Then he pointed out that some of the changes were not in the document although he had included them and what happened to those changes and it wasn't good to have these things pointed out during the meeting.......I got confused and took the blame and said sorry. I mentioned to him (asserting my new found boundary voice) that when we are in these fire drills, it is going to lend itself to mistakes and we need to account for more time and something needs to be revised in the planning so that the changes are not happening right before a meeting (this is on him as he is my "superior")
He agreed, and right prior to me continuing my statement he decided to put our boss on speaker when I said this portion and the boss said "Ya so how did that happen" well the guy went into this explanation that it was the boss who created the last minute fire drill, I corrected and mentioned that the one request from the boss was fine, but it was all of a sudden the other additional changes and a call that he scheduled an hour before the meeting that caused the problem.
So after I that I had a belly ache, and was like, did I mess up? here...what the hell...and was kind of freaking out....also had an issue going to sleep. Something was nagging me about him saying his changes weren't incorporated...I just knew something was fishy.
This morning I went into the document and did a compare and found that in fact NONE of the changes he claimed were supposedly in the document that he was embarrassed the client caught, were in there. I MEAN NONE! I knew it was fishy that he had only taken an hour to review a 122 page document.
So this morning I am having difficulty as I am in another fire drill with him attending a meeting that he should have prompted yesterday the organizer, and I am sitting here 5 minutes before the meeting with no Dial in and no web ex....because of his poor planning. I am starting to kinda lose my cool a bit.......
Like, why am I getting these "talks" that I am not taking care of things appropriately...and why am I sitting here in stress because this dude can't pull together a simple meeting invite......I have wasted overtime hours and weekends pulling my end of things and this is starting to really fire me up!
When I am onsite do I pull him aside and say something?? Do I talk to our boss, what do I do here....just stuff a sock in it?? I mean this is bugging bad and I feel like he is affecting productivity overall.
Overall he has been a cool guy, but very lax on reviewing work with me, always just doing a cursory review and he is the expert so he is supposed to be relied on for the work...while I am just basically a glorified admin.
We had a very tight deadline, well he makes it a tight deadline, I deliver ahead of schedule my part and then he always has these "surprise" issues with his laptop where he cant connect to his laptop at home which results in him not being able to take care of the issue until the next morning. As a result of that, it creates a tight deadline for me again because after his review of my work all of a sudden I am on mach speed to deliver our work to the client within 10 minutes of a meeting. This is again, created by his last minute crap.
Yesterday after another one of these cases he called me and asked how I thought the meeting went. I told him I thought fine overall. Then he pointed out that some of the changes were not in the document although he had included them and what happened to those changes and it wasn't good to have these things pointed out during the meeting.......I got confused and took the blame and said sorry. I mentioned to him (asserting my new found boundary voice) that when we are in these fire drills, it is going to lend itself to mistakes and we need to account for more time and something needs to be revised in the planning so that the changes are not happening right before a meeting (this is on him as he is my "superior")
He agreed, and right prior to me continuing my statement he decided to put our boss on speaker when I said this portion and the boss said "Ya so how did that happen" well the guy went into this explanation that it was the boss who created the last minute fire drill, I corrected and mentioned that the one request from the boss was fine, but it was all of a sudden the other additional changes and a call that he scheduled an hour before the meeting that caused the problem.
So after I that I had a belly ache, and was like, did I mess up? here...what the hell...and was kind of freaking out....also had an issue going to sleep. Something was nagging me about him saying his changes weren't incorporated...I just knew something was fishy.
This morning I went into the document and did a compare and found that in fact NONE of the changes he claimed were supposedly in the document that he was embarrassed the client caught, were in there. I MEAN NONE! I knew it was fishy that he had only taken an hour to review a 122 page document.
So this morning I am having difficulty as I am in another fire drill with him attending a meeting that he should have prompted yesterday the organizer, and I am sitting here 5 minutes before the meeting with no Dial in and no web ex....because of his poor planning. I am starting to kinda lose my cool a bit.......
Like, why am I getting these "talks" that I am not taking care of things appropriately...and why am I sitting here in stress because this dude can't pull together a simple meeting invite......I have wasted overtime hours and weekends pulling my end of things and this is starting to really fire me up!
When I am onsite do I pull him aside and say something?? Do I talk to our boss, what do I do here....just stuff a sock in it?? I mean this is bugging bad and I feel like he is affecting productivity overall.
I have been in this situation a hundred times over. Normally, I try to avoid giving specific advice to people, but in the work case, I think the situation is somewhat different.
I believe that your best bet is to talk to him directly. I would present it in terms of overall productivity, as you said. Something along the lines of "when XYZ happens, we all look bad. How can we work together to prevent looking unprepared in front of the boss, clients, etc.?" Give him the chance to give his thoughts, but then give yours as well and be clear on what you need to be successful. This is where you establish the boundaries. When he violates them, then you can clearly say things like "remember we agreed that all changes, unless directed by the boss, need to come to me 4 hours before the meeting, otherwise I can't be sure that we will be able to incorporate all of them. If these changes are that important, should we reschedule the meeting?" It may be helpful to review your points and suggested improvements with someone you trust before talking to the "superior." People respond best to feedback like this when you can stick to the most critical points (e.g., 4 improvements instead of 14), and organize them into groupings (e.g., pre-meeting activities, post-meeting activities).
I wouldn't go to the boss without him unless you feel harassed in some way. Otherwise, it can appear as "tattling" and can inadvertently make *you* look like the unprofessional one. If you need to loop in the boss, then best practice is to have a 3-person meeting (i.e., you, him, and boss) to make sure there are no "lost in translation" or "he said/she said" issues.
Finally, no matter what you do, the biggest opportunity that you can control is to leave work "at work." I am awful of this, but you may be able to cure the belly aches if you give the job (and all its frustrations) your focus until quitting times, then let them go and focus on stuff in your life you enjoy. I am the poster-boy for doing this the wrong way, so I understand how hard it is :)
Good luck to you.
To the advice you got from Holborn98, I'd like to add that if possible, look for ways to document that you are getting your work done on time and accurately. When you send your document for review to your superior, can you CC his boss? Can you/do you use email for this? The date/time stamp would show that you were done on time. You can also put in there, a request to get the changes back to you by a certain date and time. And, if possible, decline any other meetings or interruptions while you are working on his fire drills. Just politely say no, and tell them to reschedule the meeting if you are required to be there.
I have had people at work try to blame me for their own shortcomings, and I totally understand losing sleep over it. You really need to watch your back around this guy. He may be threatened by you. You report to him, but it sounds like you are doing well at your job, while he's having trouble keeping up.
The buck stops with playing his way. Today starts the day with covering my butt.
Further, its a beach day outside.......so I am going to the beach, screw this!!
I have calmed considerably since I wrote this. I think the crux of it is I thought he and I were trying to participate as a team as that is how he was trying to play it, and I caught him in a lie and now that has disintegrated trust for me....so I am just going to treat him as a "superior" and call it a day....no more "team" it is just me doing what he asks and if there is anything wrong with it......its on him.
I am so tired of covering for people, stuffing a sock in my mouth not saying anything, and just taking on responsibility for nothing.....so in this current situation I am using my voice, covering my own butt and not playing ball......anyway, I feel a lot better with the new day :) Plus it is hotter than Haiti, in Laguna Beach......so it feels like summer, so I really can't complain (well except for the drought HAHHA)
:) Have a super day guys!!