Feeling useless working under my manager

LegacyUser

I've been in my job for two years now, but I am constantly feeling inadequate and that my performance is sub-par. The reason being is that I work under a very capable manager. In fact, he is regularly said to be the best in his field within our office, even by those at a higher level!

And here's me. I'm a middle of the road kind of employee. I work hard, but struggle from time to time with some issues. I guess that's part and parcel with learning on the job, but it gets frustrating.

The biggest issue I have is when I've produced, what I think, is a good standard of work. I bring it to my manager and he ****s all over it. I mean he is nice about it, but he essentially changes nearly everything I've done! He has been in the business for so long and knows the optimum way for everything to be done, and he also has his preferences in the way he does things, so any time I come to him with my completed work he always changes things to make it better.

It's good that I see his viewpoint, and most of the time he is right. My work isn't wrong per se, just not optimised!

It's very demoralising that I can't produce something that he is 100% happy with. Is this normal in every work environment? Maybe it's the line of work I'm in, but I feel I'm going nowhere when I can't get it right, even 50% of the time!

Any advice?

Mrs OBumble

So ask him to coach you to do a better job.

Sound like you've been given an opportunity that many an ambitious employee would give their left arm for (highly competent manager who's nice about it). Use it.

LegacyUser

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

So ask him to coach you to do a better job.

Sound like you've been given an opportunity that many an ambitious employee would give their left arm for (highly competent manager who's nice about it). Use it.

I am ambitious. It's just that the line of work I am in, with anything I do there is no right answer. Everyone has their own way of doing things, so even if I come to my manager with something another senior manager has completed, he would make changes regardless because he has a certain way of working.

I would like to be given some autonomy where he does a quick review and says "that's some good work, but I would have done it differently". Instead he redoes what I've done to suit his style, as such.

It just gets me down when I can't produce something that he is 100% happy with.

bobbysands81

middle-of-the-road wrote: »

I am ambitious. It's just that the line of work I am in, with anything I do there is no right answer. Everyone has their own way of doing things, so even if I come to my manager with something another senior manager has completed, he would make changes regardless because he has a certain way of working.

I would like to be given some autonomy where he does a quick review and says "that's some good work, but I would have done it differently". Instead he redoes what I've done to suit his style, as such.

It just gets me down when I can't produce something that he is 100% happy with.

You've answered your own question there.

Why are you being so hard on yourself when it all comes down to mere differences in style?

Tombo2001

bobbysands81 wrote: »

You've answered your own question there.

Why are you being so hard on yourself when it all comes down to mere differences in style?

The issue then is that OPs work becomes the managers work.

I see this all the time - come up with something, manager makes a few needless changes so that it is then their piece of work.

Completely disingenuous. Learn from it, its one way to play the game.

B.A._Baracus

Tombo is right.
You have to play the game because your manager is playing the game. He takes your work and applies his own spin or addition to it. It's called "blowing out your job" op.

Look, word to the wise, see all this pats on the back, good job there and all that horse sh*t don't matter. It's all about the wage at the end of the day.

beauf

I think you'd have to talk to your manager. They may not realise the impact on others if they always have to change everything.

Or just copy their style. So they won't have to change it. I suspect though it's their habit, and they'll change it regardless.

I used to hand one person stuff they'd already revised and they still revise it often back to to the original.

I would suggest you need to move to another team, which doesn't do this. As I doubt your manager will change their habits.

As a manager you have to learn to accept someone else's solution that works differently to your own, if you want to delegate successfully.

Lux23

So when you produce a piece of work do you take on any of the feedback from your manager? For instance, would you produce a report and then compare it to the final report your manager would have signed off on? This should help you to improve.