Incompetant Supervisor 18

[frusso110]

My supervisor is completely and utterly incompetent. Literally, he is not capable of managing the engineering department (about ~10 people under him). He is not organized, not in touch with any of the projects going on, and screws up nearly everything he does touch. Finally, he is not capable of listening and comprehending. He was appointed the position he is currently in, because there was no one else available to take the job, he did not ask for it.

What am I supposed to do? He literally does NOT do his job. He does other things related to engineering, but is not a leader, nor a manager. He does not realize that he is responsible for the successes of the department, and instead of taking blame for his engineers failures, merely deflects the blame to the employee who made the mistake. I'm considering expressing my worries to his boss (one of the higher ups of the small company.)

Please help. I know I'm not the first person to have a boss that was so incapable of managing. I wont be doing anything before the two week shut down at the end of December, but I would love to have a plan going into next year.

 

[Maui]

It's spelled "incompetent", not "incompetant".

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[MintJulep]

He was appointed the position he is currently in, because there was no one else available to take the job, he did not ask for it.

More likely he was appointed because the bosses thought that he was the best qualified for the job.

Think about ALL the implications of that.

 

[GregLocock]

Manage him.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[SNORGY]

I used to work at a place where he would fit into management perfectly. I could send you the link to that place...

Seriously, though, unless the situation is unbearable for you in the interim, my advice would be to let some more time pass while keeping your own performance on track.

The truth always comes out.

Failing that, offer to be his right-hand person, under the guise of "...to take some of the leg-work off you...". There is an opportunity for self-promotion here, and you will be in a great position to take the job he currently occupies if the incompetence continues. On the other hand, if the incompetence is cured and you had a hand in meeting that objective, everyone wins.

 

[Compositepro]

I've had lots of "incompetent" bosses. Good subordinates can still be effective and can make the boss look good. Is your goal get the job done or to make sure your boss looks bad? His superiors are not likely to be much better and certainly do not want or need you to tell them what is going on. If you can't do something constructive to make the department function better, find another job or hope things change in time. What I hear you saying is that you need managing, and aren't getting it. If you had the boss's job what would you do, and how would you like to have a subordinate like you? Lack of trust can tear a team apart.

 

[frusso110]

The problem is I have tried to help him.

I've brought up problems to him to his face, suggested solutions to problems in department meetings.

I even made him a Gantt Chart to try and help him realize what was going on. I feel disheartened that all my extra effort is always for nothing.

 

[frusso110]

@Mint:

I have thought of that. And it scares the crap out of me.

 

[Ron]

Snorgy...he probably has an MBA

Greg...exactly!

 

[cvg]

perhaps your plan going into next year should be finding a new job. when is the last time one of your employees made you a gantt chart and suggested you improve your organizational skills? and suggested improvements you could make in the department meeting; and you actually appreciated the (meddling) help? you probably should step back and think about what you are doing before you really piss him off...

 

[remqnf]

Think long and hard before complaining to your boss's boss. There are many possible outcomes to 'jumping the chain of command' and few of them work out well for you.

 

[Comcokid]

Give his name to every head-hunter you know.

 

[berkshire]

Frusso
Buy and read the book I am listing here. It may not help, but it will make you feel better.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[frusso110]

Thanks guys. In conclusion, I will not be "jumping the chain of command"

I will however continue to express my concerns to my supervisor, while documenting every conversation I have with him. If he ever claims I didn't inform him of something, I'll have proof I did and was ignored.

Happy Holidays. 3.69 days to Christmas shutdown.

 

[tickle]

We see a lot of posts on here about their bosses not doing their job properly. But in reality the rants are only only the poster's opinion on how the job should be done. And we never get the stories about what the boss does right. In my humble opinion, the boss is in that position for a reason and he is acting as a conduit for upper management.

The OP states that the boss deflects blame to the person who has done it wrong. Again my opinion is:
1. why should the person who did it wrong not have to take responsibility?;
2. how do you know that the boss has not been hauled over the coals by his bosses?;
3. (slightly off topic for the list) what training has the boss had to be a leader? what support is the boss getting? (it sure aint coming from people complaining on forums)

I feel that there is a complete lack of empathy (or is it sympathy?) for supervisors. And people would do far better to remember that you can only control things in your sphere of influence (ie you can only change the way that you react) and you can only truthfully comment on what you know is true (not what you think is true).

I see that Frusso's previous post is titled "Dealing with studid" I suggest he rereads that and then heeds the advice given by Facs, Ctopher, Msquared and IR Stuff (and others).

Thanks for reading

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Give his name to every head-hunter you know.

You are a devious, devious man, CK ;-)

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[graybeach]

Hopefully you are not one of the 10 engineers in my department, of which I have been manager for about a year! But really, I feel pretty certain that my group respects me for trying, against all odds, to institute some order among the chaos. There are some major societal forces that are making it really difficult to lead these days. Administrative support for engineering managers has become nonexistant; fewer people in upper management have a background in engineering; the leadership ladder focuses 99% up and 1% down; everyone wants to be the big picture guy and not focus on "minutia"; advances in internet connectivity has turned established work processes upside down. I could go on.

Before I got my promotion, I had many of the same frustrations you have - actually I still do! Tickle has a good point about controling what you can control. Make sure you are a proper leader of what you control, even if it is just individual calculations. No action is too small to "plan the work and work the plan".

 

[looslib]

Rule #1: The boss is always right.
Rule #2: If the boss is ever wrong, see Rule #1.

There are certain things you can do to help your boss do his job better and most should be done in private, not group meetings. Is he trying and just in over his head or truly a screw up? Either way his boss will realize the mistake and either replace him (screw-up) or try to help him (in over his head). As an underling, you are limited to what you can do, but helping him to do a better job can be done as long as the other peers don't perceive you as the department brown nose.

I had a boss one time that kept changing the direction of our project. He worked in another building and we staff used to joke about the changes in direction. We eventually got a new boss and since the old manager was a manager, the company did not demote him, but made him a manager of special projects with no one reporting to him.

Another boss had 2 titles. In his position of one, he wrote a report saying that what I did was not following the rules of his oversight responsibilities. I went into his office for a one to one and told him that the report made his other depoartment look bad by saying we didn't know what we were doing. He really had not thought it through that he was complaining about the people that worked for him. Luckily I was already in the middle of looking for another job which I took about a month later.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[SNORGY]

If it is true that your manager only deflects the blame onto the originator of the work, then by my every understanding of the definition, he is a bad manager.

That is something that leaders don't do. Leaders take the blame and then settle whatever else needs to be settled off line with whoever is involved.

GOOD leaders find ways that contribute towards an environment in which people spend 70% or more of their time doing their best not to commit any "blame-able" mistakes, and the other 30% or less of their time fixing mistakes instead of looking for who to blame.

 

[controlsdude]

Any company has processes, most problems with bosses that were former co-worder/engineer is most want to hang on to doing engineering tasks and not be manager. Also, if he is over his head then the manager above obviously knows he has to mentor him if he was last man standing for manager and pushed into this role. The manager above realizes this and would be patient with him until he improves with time or they find someone else. Then this same person would just go back to being an engineer like you or he moves on.

I think the other engineers that see this would be supportive and not try to constantly critisize. I think the problem is you either accept what is happening or move on, makes life easy for everyone.