Non-delegator Boss

well, i work in an ad agency. so i report to the Head HR who reports to the CEO. i have a dotted line reporting to the Delhi Head and work closely with him. he also reports to the CEO.

the problem is that each time i tried to take her advice on initiatives, she replied by saying ''I am planning to do this, I am talking to people to get this done, I will roll it out in a few months' time, don't worry, I already have it on my agenda and I will do it sometime soon''. of course, she says all this very sweetly. we were both hired through a common headhunter and i'd shared my problem with him and he had a word with her. the result of that was just sweet talk but no concrete action. she did praise me as well and told me when she heard my appreciation from anyone but never in writing. i have asked her for feedback on me and it was positive. then i don't know why she doesn't have the confidence in me and entrust me with more responsibility?!:icon7:

i honestly also sometimes wonder if talking directly with the CEO help as he thinks that my boss is a 'god sent angel'! certainly i won't bitch about her with him but just want to talk to him directly so that i can start executing things here. but i fear he may want to consult her and she will shoot down my ideas on some vague pretext or the other and will want to get rid of me. i'm due for confirmation next month and fear i might just end up jeopardizing it.

on the other hand i also fear that others might just think that HR isn't doing much and ultimately it's my reputation as a professional that is getting marred.

i'm lost! help please.

well, i work in an ad agency. so i report to the Head HR who reports to the CEO. i have a dotted line reporting to the Delhi Head and work closely with him. he also reports to the CEO.

the problem is that each time i tried to take her advice on initiatives, she replied by saying ''I am planning to do this, I am talking to people to get this done, I will roll it out in a few months' time, don't worry, I already have it on my agenda and I will do it sometime soon''. of course, she says all this very sweetly. we were both hired through a common headhunter and i'd shared my problem with him and he had a word with her. the result of that was just sweet talk but no concrete action. she did praise me as well and told me when she heard my appreciation from anyone but never in writing. i have asked her for feedback on me and it was positive. then i don't know why she doesn't have the confidence in me and entrust me with more responsibility?!:icon7:

i fear talking to the CEO too as he thinks that she's a God sent Angel! and if i talk to him directly about initiatives, i fear he might eventually consult her and she will shoot down my ideas under some vague pretext or the other or simply even tell him that she's already working on it and will roll it out on an appropriate time or worse say that they are not good ideas. i'm due for confirmation next month and i don't want to jeaopardise it.

i'm lost! help please.

well, i work in an ad agency. so i report to the Head HR who reports to the CEO. i have a dotted line reporting to the Delhi Head and work closely with him. he also reports to the CEO.

the problem is that each time i tried to take her advice on initiatives, she replied by saying ''I am planning to do this, I am talking to people to get this done, I will roll it out in a few months' time, don't worry, I already have it on my agenda and I will do it sometime soon''. of course, she says all this very sweetly. we were both hired through a common headhunter and i'd shared my problem with him and he had a word with her. the result of that was just sweet talk but no concrete action. she did praise me as well and told me when she heard my appreciation from anyone but never in writing. i have asked her for feedback on me and it was positive. then i don't know why she doesn't have the confidence in me and entrust me with more responsibility?!:icon7:

i fear talking to the CEO too as he thinks that she's a God sent Angel! and if i talk to him directly about initiatives, i fear he might eventually consult her and she will shoot down my ideas under some vague pretext or the other or simply even tell him that she's already working on it and will roll it out on an appropriate time or worse say that they are not good ideas. i'm due for confirmation next month and i don't want to jeaopardise it.

i'm lost! help please.

Hi,

I believe that you have entered into a tough position. This is not really a problem that can remain untackled. A little bit of prudence will get you through. Here is how


a. Keep your superboss in the Loop: Try approaching your superboss. In case he/she has she is all ears to you. You can try convincing him/her about your ability. Now this will take some hard work and ground work from your front. Design proposals/presentations keeping in mind the WITFM (What’s in it for me?) Factor. Remember there is no surrogate to documentation.

b. The squeaky wheel gets the grease: Blowing your own trumpet and communicating /documenting it through mails is most important since your boss is located at Mumbai.

If you think that you have done a job well and duly deserve a praise/reward than you have to follow up with her till the finish. It will either get implemented or you will have to deal with new challenges to resolve before it gets implemented. Remember these boundaries are drawn by the mind alone. You just need to think that your boss is your own subordinate and you need to follow up with her/him. This will allow you to deal with him/her patiently.

c. Get more ears for yourself: Since your boss sits at Delhi, you actually have the freedom to work. I am sure you also have a business reporting at Delhi as well. Even if not, they are your ultimate clients. It is important to get them to appreciate your stance. You have to get their buy in as well. Try working on those HR verticals which are of prime concern to the Business Heads (You need to have a fair understanding of the business). This would make you indispensable. Try becoming a solutions provider. (Here is an example, say that that you are in an NBFC, your targets should be quick recruitments within minimal TAT and attrition. Since you are the one who ultimately helps the Sales Manager get high performers to meet their targets. ) Even if your function reporting is not interested in your welfare, the business reporting will support you. This will give you immense power, but remember to use it wisely as the rise is fast but the fall is even faster.

Here’s something that IT has taught me. Start off something (HR initiative) on a small scale and if it succeeds than you can go ahead and get the approval for it to be implemented nationally. This will concrete data to work with and help you in moving up in your career.

d. Incompetence: In careers people rise to their level of incompetence. It seems that the same is true for your boss. Policies get stuck at the top management’s desk people like your boss are unable to convince them. The strategy lies not in changing them but to change yourself. Put yourself in their shoes and trying to anticipate the bottlenecks which comes in the way of its approval and finding solutions to them. Thus, there would be no logical reason/argument not to implement those policies. This will give the senior management relief and doing this periodically will help you gain their trust and hence their ears.

Do write in to let me know how you planning to resolve this issue and within what timelines. Incase you have any queries you can write in to me.

Warm Regards,
Shyamali

Dear All,

I was offered by my present company when i was doing great job with my previous company.

I joined the company bcz they offered me good position with good job responsibilities ( JV between Sinagapore & Inida – It’s a start up company). I took the challenge and started my career, even though i do know that i have to face several challenges ahead. (51% share from Indian Govt based company and rest from Singapore based company).

We have a simple Org chart. SVP (From IBC) - VP (From SBC) - AVP (From IBC)

The one who offered me went back to Singapore bcz of their project completion. New staff was deployed in their vacancies.

My reporting boss doesn’t know much about HR functions. As he was deputed from IBC one of the JV Company as AVP F&Corp Services.” In his view HR means PR only“.

I tried explaining several times about HR functions but he is not ready to listen. He always compares the HR work with his mother company PR dept.

After 20 days of his joining he gave me Transfer letter from corporate to operations department. (Big Surprise)

Copy of JR is not provided and even the reason for transfer is not given.

I asked him the reasons for transfer? He simply said Mgt wants you to handle certain things in Operations which are related to HR.

I am not clear with what he said but i understood that i should look for opportunity .... But i feel very bad with the process he followed.

Hope you agree with me with the pathetic situation in market.

Today morning i received a call from my AVP F&CS, i meet him and he says Mgt took a decision and asked him to convey me “To put down my papers".

I asked them the reasons on the same they don’t have 1 single reason to give.

Why this happened? I think i am very straight forward with my SVP and my new boss who don’t know much about HR. ( bcz earlier exp he had in Finance dept )

I am not willing too stay in this company. But as per the outside market even i feel it will take some time for getting good opportunity. I don’t want to take any sort of risk in my future carer.

I need your inputs on this ...
Should i resign? (I don’t have any reason from Mgt)??????:icon1:

Waiting for your response!!!

HR - Raj

thank you all for your help and support.

Shyamali, i think you're right. i should try and get some support from the business side. and perhaps initiate ideas that are non-threatening to my boss and Finance. this would indeed be very challenging for me because they also don't see much use of HR and do not have an understanding of what HR is supposed to do and marginalise my role at every opportunity they get. they never consult me on even people issues or even hiring.

when i did try and speak with the Delhi Head on some of the initiatives but he told me that i have very high and different expectations and that ''this is advertising and will never function like a true corporate''. i think that's what made me lose morale and motivation to keep going.

it's just that it's very hard to remain self-motivated and sometimes it feels like i'm banging my head against a wall.

some employees however do approach me for various issues but i am unable to help them most of the time because either the issue comes under Finance's purview or Mumbai HR/Corp HR. I am part of the Corp HR team but sitting in Delhi but everything is centralised.

in my previous organisation, i was handling end-to-end recruitments but here i do not have an say in vendor management. everything is either centralised or with Finance.

i am afraid to talk to the Delhi Head about initiatives because i think he too doesn't have any understanding of how HR can add value, his style is very informal and likes to handle everything himself except when it involves paperwork. i've been here for almost 5 months and i haven't been asked a single update/report on anything!

sighhhh......

Hi Arnold,

Even I have a boss who checks and rechecks the work done by all of us but delegate the work of Managers. Top of that he will even instruct to do it in particular fashion. no space given to us to prove ourselves. I don't think they deserve to be on the positions on which they are. I am working on executive level and he has given me responsibility of writing job profiles for the company. For the same work an agency has demanded Rs. 3-5Lacs.I gave him various options like taking samples and writing job profiles or H.O.D.s giving the Job Profiles of their respective departments. But what he prefered is I write the job profile then he will check and recheck and derive that sadistic pleasure. I would like to add that the company is 16 yr. old organisation. Moreover he is a "YES PERSON" I mean whenever any senior or junior staff or be the peons also needs something or they are not doing their work he would say " no no we have to do it, it is our job" now you tell me how to deal with this Boss.He is a V.P. He makes us feel like even lower then peons. does not wants to give any facility to us. as he says we are facilitators. his idea of facilitator is to give facilities to people. whereas if I know the idea of facilitator is one who helps to fulfill the tasks with available resources. my definiton may not be so correct but I hope you all understand what I mean to say.

This whole thing came on me because I thought to save Company's money and told him that we will do it ourselves. People before me were much more diplomatic and they never offered to make any changes in the organisation because of our YES PERSON Boss.

However, I don't let all this dampen my spirits if we don't know what is bad then we can not appreciate what is good.

Any suggestions folks what should be done in case you have such a Boss.

Good I joined this site. As I cannot discuss all this at home because they will not understand a thing you know.

:confused:Kiran

Hi,
Why is that everywhere HR is not given importance. When it comes to implementing some thing they say you do this and that. When it is done there is no appreciation and importance to that. HR plays a very important role in a company taking care of all the employees, but on low profile.
How can we go on on a low profile ? Pls. suggest.
Regards,
Tabassum

i think mostly HR people have dug their own grave by being too uptight and following the rule book. and sadly, most of them have risen from positions of exec secretaries/receptionist/data entry operators etc. and that's why for them HR means just paperwork and that's how they exercise their power.

i started my career with sales in the biggest media house of India. the HR there sucked, sat on a different floor and never bothered to interact with the staff. they were unapproachable and feared. i had some trouble with my boss at that time and instead of approaching the HR, i preferred to go to the Director instead.
since it was the beginning of my career, i was so determined to change the way HR functioned and i thought i could do it only by being part of the function myself.
so i made my move to HR. but sadly, in India it is still at the mercy of the top management.
i've come to the conclusion that perhaps the top guys don't want capable HR people to run the function. they just want 'yes people' and executioners, not strategists and thinkers.
most don't know what an HR is supposed to do. and that's very unfortunate.

I did face the same problem in my last employment.
I spoke to my manager but that did not work, so i spoke to the CEO directly who was my boss's boss.
I received a good response from him initially or i guess that's what they wanted me to feel, but then they slowly started building a case against me and started to make my life miserable.
Moreover i was pregnant then and they did not want to bear maternity costs.
Ultimately i had to move out or be terminated.
lesson that i learnt here is that don't try to bypass your boss, work through him.
Another colleague of mine did that and is quite successful in the same organization.
hope this helps in getting a better understanding.