To throw colleague under a bus?!

[justteanbiscuits]

New colleague. Technically senior to me, and clearly trying to assert dominance in a number of ways. We have a very flat organisation generally, and outside of who you report to, there is no real seniority day to day.

Last week I made a minor error - basically, I got person x to proof read something for me, they missed a mistake and I sent it out. I corrected it and followed up as soon as it was noticed - about 15 minutes after sending.

New colleague told my boss and other members of team about this error.

The reason I didn't get new colleague to proof read is he was offline and had told me, off the record, he was finishing early to make the most of the nice weather and go for a walk at a local beauty spot.

It's been raised by my manager who "wants a chat about it". Do I smile sweetly, nod, promise to never do it again. Or do I drop new colleague in it and explain why I didn't get him to proof read?

You are being unreasonable = Just smile sweetly and shut up
You are NOT being unreasonable = Hell yeah drop him in it

You need to learn to manage your manager. I would ask for a meeting, say that you appreciate his being at the meetings but as you previously met there people alone it now looks like over kill him being there and his interjections are spoiling your flow. You know what you are going to say and how you will say it. I would personally point out the couple of times he's made errors, but I can be quite assertive.

You need to push back against this demeaning of your work.
Before he came along you were doing just fine without him and now despite it not being his role he is standing between you and your client and expecting to be the arbiter of all standards and the filter through which your stuff goes before it can be trusted to see daylight!!
Fuck that.
If the boss wants to humour this to the detriment of deadlines (you said you were told to make sure he gets to proud read it, even if it means it's late), then everyone is dancing to his tune, even if he's decided to sod off for an early dart in the sunshine!!!
This does not bode well.

Agree with @Elvis1956 , he's not the gospel and if people are buying his personal pr you need to puncture the bubble he's surrounding himself with.

You and your colleagues sound like a bunch of horrible snakes. Is this an angling culture there? Other people highlighting your mistakes to asset dominance, you considering throwing someone under the bus for being offline. I’m glad I don’t work there.

Actually, we are far from a bunch of snakes - which is why this is a bit of a WTF thing for me. We're incredibly chilled, and I guess I am having to work out how to work with someone who has come from a very different working culture.

In meeting with my boss I actually chose to just highlight the positives this person has bought to the team - and he has. I just am not used to working in a blame culture at all these days.

Create a shared drive, upload docs to there. Onus then on colleague to check.

And you can show you're thinking of ways to ensure it doesn't happen again when colleague is offline.

Now this you need to nip in the bud. Proofreading everything is one thing, it's properly a secretarial task, and in your place I'd simply bury him in material. Changing the order of slides is different, that's a suggestion to content - smile and decline. Invitations to meetings, turn him down or check with your boss.

You don't really explain what you mean by colleague being "technically senior," given he's not in your line of command...?