Am I overthinking this or am I being sidelined (work situation)?

[ShitStrategy]

I don't really know what I'm asking, I've just got a really bad feeling about a work scenario (I have posted about it before but under a variety of names).

In a recent restructure I was promised (in an email from the CEO) a director level role working with clients in a specialist/strategic capacity, distributing the lower level work down to the central teams. There was a whole load of debate about my title but that got resolved through workplace consultation, when HR backed me up.

As things are evolving, however, I'm finding that I'm being pulled into lower level tasks which is what I thought I would be using the teams for; I've been added to the email distribution list of one of the managers at a lower level, so I'm getting emails as though they are my manager when I'm supposed to be in the tier above; little comments are creeping out from my line manager where he treats me like one of the consultants; etc etc.

In my original role I was at director level but in a very tiny team. Since his email promising me the world, describing the high level nature of my new job and a director role, the CEO has gone very quiet.

My new boss seems to want to use me for emergency cover, doing loads of grunt work while we're short staffed, and is messing me around on my job description (I've drafted and submitted it with no response).

So I can't talk to him; the only manager I could rely on has left; HR will only tell me to talk to my line manager, and although I'm "mates" with someone on the board he is flaky plus he can't really help me.

I feel like I'm heading down a slippery slope to a role I didn't sign up for, and I don't know what to do. Am I reading too much into it these perceived transgressions, am I projecting?!

No, I think you're right to be concerned and you need to nip this situation in the bud.

You say the CEO has gone quiet - what are your chances of setting up a meeting with him to discuss your concerns?

Slim to none I'd say Valenta. I could email or text him, he'd respond eventually but it seems a bit petty to bother him! As far as he's concerned it's sorted.

I was asked to cover a number of events in few weeks (presenting) for my old firm, something that was part of my previous role. Initially my new manager was against it as the function has been consolidated, so there's no point - when my old colleague protested to the CEO that I was needed, he was reassured that I'd be released to cover them because "it will be benefical to get the wider team out in front of the clients".

FFS, I've done all the events twice a year for the last 4 years, "the clients" already know me thanks. Buffoon.

I'd get yourself removed from the email lists of the lower management level. Having you on there basically says that is the level you are.

I think you're being a little precious. The good thing about being promoted is the recognition you have a certain skill set and if you say the team are short staffed, they will call upon you to help.

Thats just me however, and no matter how far up the ladder I've been, I've preferred a hands on role.

If you have your job title, salary and benefits, i personally wouldn't mind helping out if asked. If it really does bother you, you could always look to move?

I probably am, Treacle - don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be needed at any level and I am certainly not averse to getting my hands dirty.

It's more about perception and maintaining the gravitas I had built under the subsidiary firm. I'm anxious that the move over to the Group team diminishes that - and judging by my new managers strong objection to keeping "Director" in my title (nothing personal, just politics, and HR supported the title anyway), and his willingness to slot me in for basic tasks rather than those set out for me by the CEO, I'm trying to work out if I'm being precious or I actually need to speak up!

My feelings of inadequacy may be at foot...

I’d try and bat it away as much as possible. Re the group email, make a comment along the lines of ‘don’t think I need to be cc’d in, don’t worry I trust you guys but do feel free to ask advice if specific issues arise’.

And so on.

It's occurred to me that I may have been added to that distribution group inadvertently by IT - they were given the profile of a member of the team to emulate for me, to replicate their access, so that might be accidental. I can get them to correct that.

I'm really reluctant to post this OP because it shouldn't have a bearing but I think it does...

What would a MAN in your position do? How would he handle this?

I can't help thinking that the inherent sense of entitlement that so many men have, would have had this sorted.

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all and your spidey-senses are telling you to tackle what your sub-conscious already seems to know.

Plan your tactics to get this resolved, in your own way but definitely and sooner rather than later. I agree with PP about getting your name removed from those e-mail lists too.

Hmm good question. Will have to have a think on that.

My biggest concern is that even if I go to my new boss and raise it, he seems to be working to his own agenda.

Are you a woman? Yes you are being sidelined. Yes it is subtle and hard to spot. Assert yourself. Don't worry about being nice. Don't think about what they think of you. Act as your job title says you should. Stand up for yourself. And keep at it. You can do it. But no one will do it for you and it will get worse if you don't start now.

Oh balls George, yes I am a woman and perhaps you are right. I don't tend to think along those lines much - I'm aware of everyday sexism but I naively try to belive that it couldn't POSSIBLY be alive and well in the workplace, not that blatantly...could it?! I am more likely to put it down to me simply not being good enough or my bosses generally being arseholes, rather than simply being a woman.

But when I try to think of all the women in director roles at the firm...ooh, that would be about 15 men to 1 or 2 women then. I've looked at the equal pay report, and it just says the reason the average male salary is higher than the females is that there are fewer women in senior roles!

I'm going to have to become a feminist pretty fucking quickly aren't I. Shit I'm rubbish at being assertive, I've got this far in my career by being good at my job and using charm. How do I change and develop a voice, I don't know where to start without sounding aggressive.

Oh and that reminds me...I was in a joint meeting with a client and a colleague last week, and she is a woman and a head of dept. I was focused on proving I've earned my job title and really went for it to assert myself with the client - but the colleague glared at me liked I'd pissed on her barbecue. Bit odd?

Do the other 2 women in director roles have to put up with what you described? What about the men in those roles?

Does a head of department rank above or below director in the hierarchy. Any reason why she would feel you are muscling in on her territory?

The men in the director roles have all known one another for years and years, it's a bit of an old boys club. Not sure how the other female directors are treated tbh, I'm not based at head office.

Interesting point about me muscling in on her territory - yes, quite possibly, but she had asked me to introduce myself and my background to the client so I did. I just didnt realise - because of my understanding of how my new role had been sold to me - how much hers crosses with mine, maybe that's why she looked annoyed. I thought she was one dept and I was another, but it seems there is some overlap. I did ask her afterwards if she was happy with what I said and she assured me she was, but, I'm not so sure.

Also... she and my new boss are friends and have known each other for a long time, prior to joining this firm. Don't know if that has an impact as well.

In this context I think we are about the same in the hierarchy, although she'll outrank me on the basis that she is the one bringing in the big paying clients, I'm just the mug trying to provide the product/service.

If the new manager objected to your Director title and you say he is working to his own agenda, does that mean he would actually prefer you to do a lower level job with a title to match?

How close is your manager to the CEO and will the CEO back you above the manager - from what you describe, probably not. It is unlikely that senior management will intervene for someone reporting to one of their managers - they would normally leave their managers to manage that.

What sort of restructure is it that resulted in this change. Is there any argument that perhaps there is duplication of roles and fears of redundancy?

Yes, blue, he definitely would - because he has a large team and there is already unrest over job titles and seniority. My transfer into the existing team with a different job title risks further mutiny (despite the fact that I am the only one left with this skillset, and none of the others in that team would want to do what I do anyway).

The CEO is a very decent sort of guy but he is removed from it all now - there are 2 managers between me and him. One thing I have got in my favour is that my managers manager is on the board, and I've known him for 10 years - he will always support me, so I try to keep him onside.

The restructure was due to a consolidation of services - there were several firms under the same group supplying their own versions of the same service, so it was high time we were more integrated. There is no duplication or fears of redundancy, we are horribly short staffed - it's more about jostling for position really, and whose got the most prestigious title. But whilst our subsidiary firm under the group was the smallest, we had a good industry reputation and our service was perceived as "high end" - that forms the basis of the new role, so I need that gravitas with clients to maintain the perception, over and above the "mass market" product.

So these are not proper directors jobs in the sense if running the company then? You can't have directors reporting to managers that would be odd.

Yes, I am not sure how a director reports to a manager 2 levels down from CEO. I assume that is the structure of your company but that does not make a director a particularly senior role?

Anyway, if your CEO is going to keep you, he has to protect you from others in the organisation who are much more insecure about their roles but I am guessing outnumber your high valued team and skillset.

Is there anyway for you to report to someone other than your current manager? I think he is going to try and keep you down.

I'm using the terms interchangeably, I'm saying manager to indicate the reporting line. There are board directors, then non-board directors and heads of, then managers, then consultants. I'm non-board, and my "manager" (also non-board director) reports into a board director.

Bizarrely I had to agree to having "director" at the end of my title rather than at the beginning, to avoid it looking too similar to that of my boss - so for example instead of being Director of Fuck All, I had to be called "Sort Of Director".

This is because I had it in my old title under the subsidiary firm - I refused to be demoted on paper as it would undermine everything and ruin my cv.

No you're right, it's not senior at all in the "running the company" sense. It's literally just a name, I know that, but given the strength of feeling about it there is evidently competition to have the title!

Yes I think he'll try to keep me down too, I'd gladly report into someone else. But how would I justify that argument - can I take it up with HR? I don't dislike my new boss, I think he's an ok bloke and he's doing his best in some quite crappy circumstances, but it might work better if I just report to the same person he does. I think he's worried that will undermine him somehow.

I think your instincts are correct.

Yes, I do think he is threatened by you and will try to keep you down.

What do you need to do to report to the same manager as him. Can your contact on the board give you a confidential steer as to what is going on here?

Why is it no one is fighting your corner?

Is there an organigram showing everyone's relative positions? Use that as a basis. Is your title fixed? does it show you at director level?

PP was right, the question to ask yourself is: what would a man do? and: would a man put up with this?

IME men who get promoted leave the gruntwork behind immediately, women tend to feel a bit guilty and carry on doing, say operations work, when they should be leading and delegating.

In order to do this you need to have clear reporting lines.
And if you're in an email chain where you don't think you should be, get taken out of it. Or use it to delegate who you think should be doing the tasks the email is trying to fob off onto you.

It's also very tempting if you have been doing something a long time, to carry on because you're good at it and it's difficult to either watch someone else struggle or watch them cock it up. But that's what you must do.

My contact on the board will shrug and tell me to suck it up I think - he might say he'll raise it but I suspect he'd rather not have an extra person to manage.

HR backed me over the job title but I hesitate to approach them as they are so very corporate - they've got enough trouble rumbling with the current team, I think they'll just see me as a troublemaker and will encourage me to communicate with my new boss.

But then again, so what if they do think I'm being difficult? I hate hate hate being anything other than gracious and easy going, it's in my nature to be helpful and accommodating and goes against every instinct to throw my weight around and be outspoken. But maybe I've been passive for too long.

I think HR is my best bet, with my board pal a close second. I have no one fighting my corner, because of the two people left who were in a position to do so, one resigned after a disagreement with the CEO and has gone, and the other one is a self-indulgent over inflated arsehole of the highest order and will have no interest in helping me because he is busy feathering his own nest. Fair enough.

I have asked for an organogram, twice. Nil response from HR or line manager.

I will get IT to change the email distribution lists tomorrow.