Hi all, NC for this one. I'm not sure quite sure what I'm asking you all but I wanted to lay out a situation with a colleague and get your feedback, please.
I'm a reasonably new employee (6 months or so) and got on well with my closest colleague- this person is on the same level as me and we worked closely together so that I could learn the ropes. In fairness, this person is good on 'processes' so that's really what I learned from them.
For background, this person was promoted to our role following a few years at the organisation and it was clear to me that they are very anxious about our Director's feedback. For example, we have a high number of unhappy team members, that we manage, because rules and policies have been implemented by my colleague without any thought to impact on the workforce- often this is because the Director will have said 'this needs to be done' and it's been done quickly and without much thought for, or involvement with, the people actually doing the work.
What has been happening over the last few months is that my colleague and I are talking less and less but they are talking more and more with the Director. I have no problems with the Director- we're both quite similar and don't need or want a lot of day-to-day management. My colleague now, whenever we meet, tells me about all her training and how she has of course already done 'this' (whatever 'this' is) before and is an expert so she should be the person who leads this task and so on.
Very recently we had a conversation where I mentioned that I felt very out of the loop on a meeting that she organises- despite them knowing that they should be sharing this and be more open. This meeting is for all our teams and it's where we share information. I never receive an agenda for the meeting and am asked the night before (typically post-5pm) what, if anything, I want to talk about in the meeting. I explained that I would like to plan it better and know more to really feel part of it. My colleague has clearly shared this with the Director in such a way that it takes any responsibility off her to include me, based on a conversation I had with the Director. She is also very punitive towards our staff teams.
I'm so sorry this is so long!
I feel now that I want to leave and go somewhere else. This person is very hard to work with. They are now coming across as very competitive and I don't feel that I can talk openly with them as they share those conversations in a way that reflects badly on me. Don't get me wrong- I am very capable of speaking up for myself and doing my job, I don't have any problems with any other people but they are making it very difficult.
Sorry for the length but I'm a bit fed up with it all and wondered if anyone had been in a situation where they worked with someone who was initially fine but then changed? What did you do if so? The Director is fine but not good at this type of thing so there's little I would expect from them.
TIA