Is there any hope if your manager is the problem?

[Deadinthewaternow]

I’ve been employed at the same place for a number of years and my manager has always been a problem, however, in recent months this has become a lot worse. I have been promoted to a senior role, however unfortunately my manager has also been promoted and is therefore still my manager. There is now no one doing my previous job, and clients are choosing to come to me in relation to high level work that should be going to my manager because they have no confidence in them. In addition my manager will say one thing to me one week and then the opposite the next, which means it is very difficult to have any level of trust. It feels like this is no longer sustainable. I’m told by others how highly thought of I am and that nobody wants me to leave, but is there any other realistic option here? I’m not sure complaining about your manager every really gets you anywhere does it? Any advice would be very welcome!

For starters, you need to hold your boundaries. If clients are coming to you with work that should go to your manager, you say that you are very sorry but you have a full workload and they need to take the thing to your manager. Their lack of confidence in them should not be your problem - if they want to complain then they need to complain to someone higher up, because their voice is louder than yours.

It's a bit harder to deal with the mind-changing because it's not clear what this referes to, but I'd probably suggest that something along the lines of following up conversation with "Thanks for our chat today, and just to confirm that you asked me to XXXX", and then when they change their mind you point to the email and that you've followed their lead.

Get everything in writing. Post meetings, send an email to clarify work / jobs agreed.