New manager says 'Do this', then 'Why on earth did you do that?' Help!

[Catinacap]

That's it in a nutshell, really. My old, competent manager left and I have a new manager whom I find it very difficult to communicate with.

Recently he asked me to produce two 1000-word articles for trade/ technical press and websites. I suggested 500 words: he wanted 1000 words. We discussed what he wanted included and the angle we'd take. I took notes and ran the brief back past him. He okayed it. I roughed up first drafts which he okayed. I commissioned a technical writer to produce the material and provided her with all the information required to complete the brief. At all stages I got my manager to okay everything in writing or in front of a third party. I did nothing that he didn't agree to.

Last week, when I delivered everything required on time and in budget, he seemed pleased. I was, too. Yesterday he called me in and said the articles were too long. I pointed out that he'd requested 1000 words. I'd half-guessed he'd say this and told him we could cut the text. Yesterday afternoon I submitted edited text of around 500 words, with a master showing what had been cut. Today I have a 'Why on earth have you cut this down?' email.

I'm at my wits' end. I just don't seem to be able to communicate with him. We meet, he asks for something, I explain the options, he appears to take on board what I'm saying, thinks it through, then tells me what he wants done. I do it, keeping him updated at every stage — and on almost every occasion he seems to think I've done something that wasn't agreed to and he doesn't approve. The ridiculous thing is that these two articles both work, at 1000 words and at 500 words. They are ideal for PR purposes and will work well on our website. He can't articulate when the problem with them is, or what he'd like done differently, just that he was expecting something different and is disappointed in the work and in me.

There is a possibility of talking to my old boss (now managing a different department) about it, but I think he'll just find it funny, tell me my boss is an idiot and suggest I cope with it. Am I over-thinking it? Will I eventually just get used to always being in the wrong?

My manager is like this too, whole team is frustrated, miserable and desperate to leave.

I get everything I'm writing.

Follow up every meeting with an email.

Dear X, as we discussed earlier I will do xyz, please confirm this is what you want.

Annoying to have to do so but at least you have it in writing so when he say something you can say but that’s what we agreed in the meeting and follow up email I sent you to confirm.

Deal with him only in writing (email) whilst you find another job.

I really, really don’t agree with the suggestions of putting in a big mistake so he can correct it. Why should we, as women, have to reduce the quality of our work to make an insecure man feel good? Your work is clearly excellent and you shouldn’t have to risk your reputation to keep him happy. I’d say to him that you have concerns with communication as he has asked you to do things and then done a u-turn without telling you and it’s caused him to question your work, and give multiple examples of when this has happened. Then start emailing him after every chat you have to confirm what he asked you to do/change so there’s a trail. Over time I imagine he’ll get annoyed by your emails and will up his game. And if he gets annoyed and doesn’t change, you’re doing nothing wrong by emailing him so stand your ground - or request you make a joint spreadsheet where you can both record things instead 😊

I would have a chat with him about communication styles, say something like ' I really want to do a good job and just wanted to check that I'm understanding your request correctly as x,y,z happend'

Thus shows that you've done what he asked and puts the onus back on him to make sure your getting clear directions