Junior going over your head

[SanctusInDistress]

New boss started recently. Now a team member has started to go over my head. I also suspect team member has told new boss he feels ‘clipped’.

how would you handle? I’ve spoken with team member but he does what he wants anyway, and new boss too new to realise this team member is only interested when it comes to doing abstract concepts- implementation is a different story.

also this team member has a tendency to badmouth people (he’s always pointing out others’ flaws to me, so im
assuming he’s doing the same about me to my boss).

don you think my boss knows and is just humouring him, or should I be worried?

TBH, your dislike of the employee seems palpable, so not surprising they are seeking to cultivate relationships away from you. Do you micromanage, because the only managers I've ever had that become upset by things like this are managers who can't bear the thought of not controlling everything, and who become insecure at the thought of professional relationships developing over which they are not an established intermediary. What exactly is it that this person has done, other than build a relationship with a more senior team member?

Well, they’ve not done work that they ought to be doing and instead doing work outside of their remit to impress the boss.

its the sneaking around behind my back that bothers me.

it’s a large team, they are the only one to have done this. Anybody else who wants to get involved in other projects always send it to me first ‘hey what do you think of this?’ and they I’ll give feedback and invite them to dig deeper into it.

this person did the extra work and then sent it upwards without copying me in, and set up meetings without letting me know.

No advice, but sympathy. I also have a team member who has a tendency to go off and do bits of work that may be useful but are certainly not a priority and not do the things I actually need him to do.

Can you manage the employee's work more, so that they have a full work load and no time to contact your boss and set up meetings about additional projects?

Maybe stop calling them ‘Junior’ and think of it as does them doing this make things better for the overall aims of the company or business and if it does then that’s great rather than worrying about individual status.

don you think my boss knows and is just humouring him, or should I be worried?

Worried about what? Being replaced?

ultimately yes I suppose. My targets are always spot on, but it’s dog eat dog unfortunately in most workplaces, and some people are really good at promoting themselves even if they don’t have the data to back it up. And some people do love a brown nose.

Full disclosure - lots of projection in my reply.

I had a micromanager like you OP. I was more than capable of doing her work plus my work. She knew it, her boss knew it, pretty much everyone else knew it. She worked very hard to try and limit and restrain me, which might have worked if I wasn't so confident in my ability (and her lack of ability). I just needed the experience under my belt though, so smile-and-nodded to her bullshit and cracked on with my work load largely ignoring my boss. I bypassed my boss to go directly to her boss with anything that needed senior sign off.

After 12 months in the job, I landed a huge promotion and leapfrogged the middle management level my boss was, to go directly from junior to senior leader.

Massive fuck-you to my old boss. When I handed my notice in she completely stopped speaking to me and did not speak a word to me until I left.

I realise I sound like a bitch. It's because I'm bitter. She had such skill and ability in me (I was retraining following a career change, starting low but having been skilled in a parallel profession). But instead of nurturing and valuing what I bring, she was threatened by it and only sought to quash me.

Yes, I’ve been you so I know how frustrating it is. But I’m really not useless. Middle managers have it very tough.

Interesting to see that the consensus is that if somebody tries to leapfrog, it must be because the manager is useless and nothing to do with good old simple ambition. Interesting.

Learning to nurture ambition is surely central to being a good leader?

If your employee is capable and ambitious, delegate some substantial work their way and see how they go. Suggest a collaborative approach on some of your big projects.

You could take on extra work from your senior boss, then delegate downwards. Let junior take due credit for these work, because you'll get indirect credit for nurturing the talent. Everyone wins then.

Agree with above. If they are ambitious and keen to prove themselves/showcase their skills beyond the role they are doing is there something they can be given? If they are given a development task that they can make their own it is their chance to shine, as well as yours for enabling them to do that. If they struggle then it can highlight strength gaps that need addressing to help them get to the next level.

"Hi Junior, can we talk about your future goals? I'd like to hear where youd like to be in x years so i can see how best to help you"

To explore what he wants. Best make him an ally.

Dog eat dog sounds like a horrible place to work tbh I wouldn't want to give my energy to that if I had a choice.

Yes tried this (giving them
ownership of things), but it didn’t fly (they didn’t really take up a new challenge and it kind of fizzled out). Now it’s a new boss.

I guess I just need to be patient and not make a fuss and wait until the new boss hopefully realises it’s just posturing and there’s not much delivery.