The Manager Issue.

The Manager Issue.

First off, the company and the people I work with are incredible. I've been in the role for a year after leaving accounting consulting work for 15 years. I needed health insurance and benefits, plus more predictable schedule/environment so I sought a W2 job in the industry.

I'm used to autonomy and using that to tailor around solving and producing each of my client needs. Over the years, assignments vastly differed between at least 60 organizations I've consulted for, many industries, small businesses.

The Manager at my current role loves to say when I meet with her to discuss issues: "this is how x and y and z did it, you should, too." Or "I've been in accounting for 30 years, this is always how to do it." (Respect for that, it's that it's been limited to 2 roles at 2 companies, the breadth is skewed). I don't think I've ever not done assignments the way she's asked or negated her experience. I find the problem is, she is not clear with her expectations or provides inconsistent data. If I address it, it's met with defensiveness. I have respect for her and I know she is excellent at her accomplishments. I've also wondered why in a company that has average tenure of 15, why this particular position I accepted has the turnover of about one person a year for the past 6 years? And the two other people she managed ended up transferring to different supervisors. Money is good, I don't believe that's the issue, I think it's maybe wearing out from her behavior? I'm doing my best to counter-manage, are there any books you've read to address these issues? My goal is to make this work out, it's not a huge barrier to overcome. I'm cautious here this could get worse and reflect poorly on me, optimistic I can create peace with the situation.