From the course: Management Tips

Dealing with a new boss off to a bad start

From the course: Management Tips

Dealing with a new boss off to a bad start

- Okay, here's the situation. You're a top member of a successful team of professionals. Your long time boss recently retired, and the company chose to hire a new, younger boss from outside the company. He's got great experience and credentials. Nonetheless, two months into his tenure, the group is rattled, not happy with the new boss, and beginning to underperform. The main problem is that the boss is really negative and distant. That's just his style. You're the team's informal leader. What do you do? One option is to do nothing. I mean, technically, it's not your job to make the boss perform better, and it's certainly not risk free. However, if you do nothing, the poor performance is likely to get worse, and the person could get fired. Maybe that's justified, but it could cause your group trouble moving forward, since you're now associated with this difficult situation. A better route is to consider the appropriate way to be helpful, so let's think about what the right message is, what a good solution might be, and who the best messenger might be. First, the message. If the team agrees that trying to be helpful is the way to go, work with them to identify the specific things you wish to convey to the new boss. Only the top one or two things. In the current case, the issue is a lack of communication, and excessive criticality and negativity. Next, what's the solution? Keep it simple. You want the boss to know he has the team's support, but that you'd like to talk about changing how we approach certain communication issues. How to deliver this message is up to you. One approach is to choose the person most likely to be taken seriously without being threatening to the boss and ask them if they're willing to do it. The less threatening option here is to respectfully deliver, while not telling the boss, the whole team wanted this to happen. Another approach is to send the person as an ambassador representing the team. A slightly more risky option. In that case, it's best to suggest the boss meet with the team, so everyone can clear the air, and talk about how we reboot our efforts. Some of the most interesting challenges you'll face in your career, you didn't expect or even deserve. One might be dealing with a new boss who's off to a bad start. Begin with the approach we just discussed to give yourself a good chance to honestly improve the situation.

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