If you work for someone else, what's your boss like?

[goodbossbadboss]

As the title says, if you work for someone else, what's your immediate boss/supervisor like?

I look after a large team and usually have a good overview on where projects are up to etc. My previous boss was the same. She was very 'available' and always knew broadly what issues we were dealing with.

New boss is totally different. She told me from day 1 that I was 'competent' and she was just going to let me get on with it. All seemed good at first but now we never see her. She was last spotted in the office 10 weeks ago as she's always off site in meetings. She usually replies to emails but if there's any conflict or major issues, she defers it back to me. She declines all meeting requests and recently said she didn't think it was necessary for us to have regular catch ups as 'you've got this'.

Recently we had a massive failure/crisis at one of our sites. Boss was aware but totally absent. Team worked really hard to fix things and there wasn't an acknowledgement or any support. Boss basically left us to do it.

It might be unrealistic to expect support but considering how serious it was, it would have been nice if she had checked in. I've always had very 'present' bosses so perhaps this is what it's like in the 'real world'.

Anyway this is not intended to be a moan about my boss. Ha! Just wondering what other people's bosses are like? What level of support would you like and what do you actually get?

I've had many different bosses. My current boss is good at the technical element of his job but not people management, and I am also a people manager so when he gives his opinion on what should happen with my team or how I should handle something they are- in my opinion- wrong

Also he can be very absent from the people management element for a long stretch of time. His direct reports get very little self development or coaching or support. 121s are sporadic,

Edit as posted too soon. Yes I would have expected more support in your situation and I imagine my manager would have been the same...

So what is your boss actually doing? Do they have another role? My boss lets me get on with it (something I’m happy about, don’t like someone breathing down my neck) but I escalate things to her if I’m concerned or having difficulties and she either advises or intervenes as necessary. This isn’t needed regularly though, normally week to week, me and the team just crack on. She doesn’t like nasty surprises so if something isn’t working well I let her know what’s happened and what we’re doing about it so she’s not ambushed. In those situations she keeps in touch for updates and offers support if it’s needed. I also have a monthly 121 with her where I update her on stuff and she’ll contact me for updates on things or to ask me or my team to do something from time to time as it comes up, but I can go a week without speaking or hearing from her if things are ticking along.
So yeah, what is it your boss is actually doing? Trusting the team to crack on is fine but ignoring them if they’re floundering isn’t I think.