New job and the boss is completely out of touch with the team

New job and the boss is completely out of touch with the team

I started a new job 6.5 weeks ago. Training was minimal. Within 2 weeks, while still awaiting training on the databases, processes and systems, I already had 15 contracts in my queue to complete (everything from a license, work orders, master agreements and software agreements). I am not an atty but I do have 20 years experience negotiating contracts in the industry that I am in - being thrown in the deep end is no new thing but this was probably the worst that I have seen...mostly because no one seems to know what they are doing meaning, we have a database to enter contract requests and processes around them however, no training for the end users that are supposed to enter contracts and so, requests are coming from everywhere with no consistency. I have one colleague (same job title, assoc dir) that handed off a master contract to me from her workload - she had been sitting on it for 3 months with no communication to the internal client except that she was passing it off to me...the email from the internal client telling me it was urgent ensued thereafter. <<< That was the beginning of my second week and since I started, this same colleague (who has been with the company for over a year) has handed off to me 7 more contracts (with the blessing from our boss).

Fast forward to today...

2 colleagues have quit. I have 2 direct reports, one who is about to quit because his potential isn't being utilized and our boss has him spinning his wheels on a project where he has been given misinformation repeatedly (before I came on board) and has had to re-do amendments to the same 2 dozen contracts 3 times now - he is an atty, are you kidding me that we are using him for this? My other direct report let me know this week that my boss was short with her, not yelling but borderline, in wanting her to get her things done in her queue - well, she is working on the projects that she was told by my boss are urgent/first priority and there are so many hours in a day, none of the other contracts in her queue are critical and more than half of them are being reviewed by the other party. I shared with my direct report that, while not wanting to make excuses for anyone, I think the frustration from my boss was misdirected and it wasn't about my direct report and more about my boss being stressed out by a number of things at work (I outlined them, none of which were unknowns). That being said, if it happens again to let me know and I will meet with my boss to see if there is something that I and my direct report should be aware of concerning her work (which my boss said from the get-go is stellar).

The impression that I am getting is that we have a boss but no leader. We have systems in processes in place but the choses approach is defaulted to scattershot. My boss is new in her position and we have a parent company that is keeping a close eye on their new acquisition and simply stated, while I don't think it is her personality as much as it is situational, my boss is putting her own needs before that of the team to the point that in the chaos, priorities change without communication, my one colleague is effectively pawning her work off to everyone else with no real questions being asked, the team is feeling destabilized from the loss of our colleagues and taking on new responsibilities as a result, and there is an overwhelming sense of frustration that is palpable but the team motto is that we are collaborative and support each other.

I feel like the team is in crisis. What can I do, in my position and as a new employee? Meaning:

1. Do I let my boss know what I am observing (tactfully)?
2. Do I just take care of myself and my direct reports?
3. Do I "be the change that I want to see" without rocking the boat and not making any comments to my boss about what I think needs to change?
4. Do I look for teambuilding opportunities and suggest them to her, hoping that she doesn't take it as a slight?

Any guidance would be appreciated. I get the sense that the current state of things isn't new and has been ongoing for some time... Thank you so much FGB brain bank.