boss

LegacyUser

Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation and could offer advice.
My immediate boss doesn't appear to be doing his job and some of the time I know its because he doesn't know how and therefore he delegates the work. His superiors know nothing about my department and so take his word for everything. He appears to do very little work but because he's my boss I can't question it. I'm amazed that he isn't under any scrutiny. It just makes me feel vulnerable because I think he thinks he can do whatever he likes and get away with it. It can also be annoying because its the rest of us that are actually doing the work but he gets to be the face of it all. I feel powerless to do anything because as far as his superiors are concerned everything is great. It is going well, but not because of him. I suppose when I think about it the people above him don't appear to be doing their job either by not taking a more active role in overseeing the department....but who am I to say this!

whippet

so what are you trying to say?

Your manager is managing a department that is producing favorable results which are to the senior management's satisfaction ?


One of the most important parts of a managers job is the ability to delegate work to those reporting in to him/her.

Xcellor

ghwohgio wrote: »

He appears to do very little work but because he's my boss I can't question it.

Perhaps he has meetings, reports, deadlines you know nothing about.

It's not unusual for a manager not to know how to do the work of their subordinates. My manager would not have the first clue about what I do. Not because he is a bad manager but because he has me to do the job. If I wasn't doing the job then he would become involved but would not take over the work.

A good manager doesn't know everything. A good manager knows how to get the results by moving the right people into the job...

IMO you should just get on with your job. It's your managers managers job to evaluate the performance of him and his team.

Irish_Elect_Eng

It may very well be true that your boss has a problem....

But...

A manager primary role is to ensure that the work gets done, in some companies this involves doing a portion of the work, in others it involves delegating most or all of the work.

As a manager myself, I have been criticized for not delegating tasks appropriately when a direct report could have completed the task, I liked the work :-). If you think about it in terms of developing my people, the only way to have capable replacements is to ensure that at least one of my direct reports can do any task that I can. So if I am out of the office there is always someone that can do each task.

Being a manager is very different from being an individual contributor, getting rated on the performance of your team, not just on your own performance takes some getting used to. Working through other people, giving out authority with responsibility can be hard, particularly if you believe that you can do the job "better" than the person that you are giving it too. I could do an adequate job in the roles of about 40% of my reports, the others have roles that I have never filled and would not be a capable of doing without significant retraining.

Having at least some of your reports thinking that you are doing a bad job or that they can do it much better than you is par for the course. But even this can be used as a motivator, because those are the employees that often love to be delegated tasks that they "can do better than their boss", most managers don't take it that personally as long as the job gets done well.

If you genuinely think that your manager is struggling, then "Lighten His Load" offer to take on some of his responsibilities, it will serve to take some pressure off him/her and it will also show you as supportive team player, possibly a candidate for promotion once you boss moves on (Or out if he is really that bad).

I would try to avoid going over the top to address your concerns, unless you are very-very-very sure that you are correct in your assessment, as it will be a career ending move if you are wrong and it may still be a career limiting move if you are right as the next manager will probably be "warned about you" limiting your prospects, not fair I know, but life sucks sometimes :-(

Mr. Loverman

whippet wrote: »

so what are you trying to say?

Your manager is managing a department that is producing favorable results which are to the senior management's satisfaction ?

One of the most important parts of a managers job is the ability to delegate work to those reporting in to him/her.

Spot on.

Although I can somewhat understand the OPs frustration. I have had an unbelievably moronic team leader in the past who really knew nothing and who I constantly bailed out, but as ridiculous as it sounds I was not her boss so it's really not my call if she's good enough.

boobar

ghwohgio wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation and could offer advice.
My immediate boss doesn't appear to be doing his job and some of the time I know its because he doesn't know how and therefore he delegates the work. His superiors know nothing about my department and so take his word for everything. He appears to do very little work but because he's my boss I can't question it. I'm amazed that he isn't under any scrutiny. It just makes me feel vulnerable because I think he thinks he can do whatever he likes and get away with it. It can also be annoying because its the rest of us that are actually doing the work but he gets to be the face of it all. I feel powerless to do anything because as far as his superiors are concerned everything is great. It is going well, but not because of him. I suppose when I think about it the people above him don't appear to be doing their job either by not taking a more active role in overseeing the department....but who am I to say this!

Do you have a copy of his job description? I ask this because you say" he doesn't appear to be doing his job". Most of a manager's job will involve a large degree of delegation, so if you went to his supervisor and said he was delegating too much, I don't think you'd get much hop.

rick_fantastic

ghwohgio wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation and could offer advice.
My immediate boss doesn't appear to be doing his job and some of the time I know its because he doesn't know how and therefore he delegates the work. His superiors know nothing about my department and so take his word for everything.

Most people have been in this situation. Managers are there to manage other people doing work, not do it themselves...

ghwohgio wrote: »

He appears to do very little work but because he's my boss I can't question it. I'm amazed that he isn't under any scrutiny. It just makes me feel vulnerable because I think he thinks he can do whatever he likes and get away with it. It can also be annoying because its the rest of us that are actually doing the work but he gets to be the face of it all.

Your doing the job you are paid to do. This is how the real world works... If you don't like it then its time to move to management

ghwohgio wrote: »

I feel powerless to do anything because as far as his superiors are concerned everything is great. It is going well, but not because of him. I suppose when I think about it the people above him don't appear to be doing their job either by not taking a more active role in overseeing the department....but who am I to say this!

If the people above him think everything is great, then he is doing a good job in managing your team... He is also raising the profile of your department within your company by delivering results for them