Not the one dropping the ball.

Anonymous

July 28,2023 at 2:15PM UTC

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Not the one dropping the ball.

In a prior job, I had a boss who had a hard time passing off work, even simple tasks (I'm told by former co-workers that this is still an issue). As a result, people in the organization would frequently email him for an update on the status of a project and cc me. I was never sure if they cc'ed me because they thought the project was now in my court and *I was* the one not getting it done or because they thought I could help move things alone, knowing my boss was the hold up. Most of the time, I was previously unaware of the project they were emailing about. Once, someone emailed in October about a project she'd asked my boss to get done in June, and his response was "I won't be able to get that done until March"(!!) [this was another simple task - sending a form letter].

I find myself in a similar position now with a new job, though not quite as extreme. I have a boss who will tell me "not to worry about a project" that someone else in the organization has asked for because "he will take care of it" and then........he doesn't take care of it. I think he literally forgets about the request most of the time. This week he's on vacation and I've been emailed a few times by people asking me if I can "finally get a project done" for them but all of these projects are things that my boss said "I'll work on this, you don't need to worry about it" when the request first came in weeks or months ago...so I haven't worried about it and I haven't worked on it.

When I respond, I say "Bob said he wanted to take that task on and told me not to work on it. He will be back next week." I feel like I'm throwing my boss under the bus, but at the same time I don't appreciate people thinking I'm the one not getting the work done. I also don't feel that its my job to delegate work to myself or fight for work to do - my boss said he'd do it, so he should do it unless I'm told otherwise.

Any thoughts on handling a boss like this?

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AnonymousJuly 28,2023 at 5:00PM UTC
Document everything in an email. That way you have an established timeline with the name of the project. It can be something as simple as, "I know you are working on project xyz, but I want to offer my support in case you need any assistance on it. Please just let me know". I do it all the time and it provides a nice paper trail and has saved me many times and also helps me make a case for things being handed off to me.
AnonymousJuly 28,2023 at 5:04PM UTC
There is a subtle difference between asking to help him with a project or task and telling him you want to do it. The first way implies he needs help, and the second is volunteering to do something you are qualified to do. This may not be the case in your situation, but some people get very sensitive about someone thinking they need help. It might be worth sitting down with him when he comes back from vacation and telling him you feel under-utilized and have plenty of cycles (I am assuming from the way this is worded that you do), and could you take some of his tasks off his plate?
AnonymousJuly 28,2023 at 6:07PM UTC
I’m actually really too busy to take work off his plate ATM.
AnonymousJuly 31,2023 at 12:36PM UTC
This is how I managed it too when my boss kept doing this. He was coming from a place of genuinely thinking he would overwhelm me, but I get certain things done really quickly that would take him hours or days due to my experience in Excel. I worded it as me looking to take on new challenges and that I have room to keep hoping in on my skillsets instead of “I’m quicker than you and people are annoyed that you’re always late.” It worked because he didn’t want me bored with my job if I was directly telling him I was not overwhelmed and needed more tasks
AnonymousJuly 28,2023 at 8:00PM UTC
I've had a similar experience. My boss liked to approve every project, purchase, even the most innocuous email, before it got distributed to a wider population. After years of people following up with me for things that are under my umbrella, and me providing a vague "it's in process" type response to protect my boss, it dawned on me that people may think I was the bottleneck. I was no longer willing to take the hit to my credibility. So, I began responding with "it's with Bob, and I'm awaiting his approval to move forward". That's now evolved to "it's with Bob, and I'm awaiting his approval to move forward. Feel free to follow up with him directly." Factual and clear, and folks that really felt something was important would take it up with Bob directly. To his credit, he would apologize for the holdup, and it took the heat off me. It's not throwing someone under the bus if you're given explicit instructions on what to do/not to do, and professionally say as much to people who ask.