Managing up and dealing with a manager who doesn't know what he's doing...

[Quirkyme]

Evening

Anyone who has tips on managing up and dealing with a manager who doesn't know what he's doing?

Anyone been in this situation before and how did you manage?

I'm in a senior role with a high level of autonomy , however, when I have conversations with him, that need serious actions - there's a lot of faffing about, and he's also a talker (think :you being present in someone's monologue) and so points, and actions get lost in the convo and I have to follow up in email, state issues and actions for him to focus, understand and hopefully take on board. This is very taxing.

Help.

I'm not in a senior role but have similar.

Do you need him to sign off on actions you are going to undertake? Or are you trying to get him to take actions?

I send a detailed explanation before speaking, with options, and ask him if it is ok to go ahead. My job is very technical so I don't massively care about the choices - just sometimes I need sign off for the non-standard.

If you have a conversation first is he maybe unprepared hence the waffling?

It is draining though

Yes...some years ago....he was a very nice man but could not make a decision on anything...hopeless...it was customer service for appliances and we had many angry customers over faulty items....he would usually shrug and giggle and walk away....until things escalated and people actually visited the premises to get an answer and then he would just refund the cost....eventually....I left after a few years so no idea what happened to him....very strange as nothing seemed to phase him....not sure how you could deal with this...I used to plead with him to respond to customers but he walked away after a short conversation....very frustrating...!

Oh my god I had this for years

It was infuriating

I left.

Not for this reason, but it was such a relief not to have to deal with him and his endless need to discuss and draw things out on a white board for hours and still fail to make a decision.

I would switch to a mode where you email him “I’m going to do X, for abc reasons, let me know by tomorrow if you disagree”

He won’t disagree and then at least you can progress things. Then you just have to deal with resenting the fact he is paid more than you while you do his job and yours…