Teamleader always in CC 12

[zanouk]

Hello all,

Some months ago two team leaders exchanged departments. I didn't mind too much at the time, as I can work with almost anybody and can do my job no matter the team leader (although I feel the former one was a person from which I had much more to learn from than the new one).
For a period of time there were no problems, but then the new team leader started being a complete control freak. I can manage most of her rules, but I have a hard time accepting the rule where I have to add her in CC to every email I send.
Don't judge too fast...on all my evaluations I was over their expectations in terms of communication, as my team leader always knew what I was working on, as I like to be as transparent as possible. When identifying a new topic to work on I would always send an email or tell them directly and mention how I would go about fixing it, but then I would have fixed it directly and send to the team leader an email when the problem was fixed (one email only with a whole conversation maybe, and the solution to it). I thought this was an elegant way of dealing with things, I was also able to construct some work relationships with colleagues in other departments, all was well.

The problems I have with this CC rule are:
- I think some people will interpret it badly and thing that I need to add "my mommy" in order to receive an answer from them => I don't really know what I'm doing/I'm not really confident
- I cannot be proactive and make my own decisions (although I am the responsible person in some projects) because she has the annoying habit of interfering (i.e. when I receive an answer she sometimes replies before I get the chance)
- I feel that I cannot connect as easily to people in other departments

Do any of you have the same rule - boss always in CC for every stupid email? How do you deal with it? Am I just analyzing this too much and all the points I have on not liking the cc rule are just stupid?

Any insight would be helpful.
D.

 

[moltenmetal]

None of us know anything about your work situation, so we can't tell you whether the person involved is really a control freak or just someone who wants to be in the loop so they can provide help when it's needed. Bosses need to avoid being blindsided by customer/other department calls about issues they weren't informed about etc.- they're there to lead and manage, and can't do that in the dark.

As project manager/principal engineer on a job, I need to be copied on all written communications with our external customer. When I mentor more junior project managers, I follow the same rule for them. When they don't need an active mentor any more, and are ready to completely stand on their own, then I'm happy to just be around to answer questions when asked. Until then, it's my job to know what they're doing, so when the customer calls me, I know what they're talking about. Internal communications? No problem- no need to include me in the communication chain unless there's a dispute or other issue I can help to resolve.

CCing the boss shouldn't be a problem for you, unless it leads to the "team leader" taking credit for work you did as if it were her own, or unnecessary intervention/meddling in what you're doing. Then it's control-freakism as you've suggested. Worried about appearances? Perhaps you should lighten up, or maybe move to a smaller company where there's less interdepartmental horsesh*t to worry about.

 

[SLTA]

Would you say "copying my daddy" if your boss were male? Or would you just deal with it and move on?

 

[zanouk]

@moltenmetal: I understand your point of view and I agree that a team leader needs to know what is going on, but this is not the case. As I mentioned in the original post, I always let my team leader know what I'm working on and I always discuss about how I am planning to solve the situation. I understand the need to be informed especially since she is new in this team, but I think it is exaggerated to ask to be in cc for every internal conversation I have. There was also the situation where I did not put her in CC when I forwarded an email to a colleague of mine because she already had the original email and she specifically said that she wanted to be in that email too, although she would have had it twice. I can't understand this behaviour as I always keep her in the loop. I also told her about how I feel about this rule and provided her with arguments and emphasizing that she always knows what I'm doing whether she is in CC or not, and her only reply was "I said I wanted to be in CC, I will be in CC". And she repeated this phrase several times...

@ SLTA: Yes, I would say the same, my problem in easily accepting this rule is not gender related, it's just related to this behaviour I don't understand. And if anything, I'm a woman too.

 

[zdas04]

This tends to be self correcting. In big companies the e-mail traffic is brutal. It is common for a manager to get over 100 e-mails a day. Dealing with that volume of traffic takes a lot of time. The first time your manager fails to respond to an important e-mail from her manager she will begin to take steps to curb the volume, and that "cc me on every e-mail rule is often the first thing to be discarded. I've had to do it a few times (I would BCC instead of CC so that responses would not go to the boss, sometimes that was acceptable, other times it wasn't).

I've never had a boss that responded to this kind of stuff directly, that just seems rude to me. If it causes problems with clients or subordinates you really should ask her if a BCC would work for her.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[SLTA]

cheers for the clarification, zanouk.

Is she making all the other team members copy her as well? As long as it's not just you, then maybe just sigh and see her as paranoid about not missing something or messing up in her new job. She perhaps had someone going behind her back at her last position, so a lesson hard learned. If it is just you, maybe it's time for a frank discussion about why.

Good luck...

 

[Gymmeh]

Zanouk,
The title “team leader” implies to me, working manager, aka a person who has their own technical work and has to make sure others are on task.
This is a very challenging task, if not harder than pure management.
Being new to the “team” they may be trying to be a perfectionist, I second Zdas, that this will probably sort itself out as everyone figures each other out.

If you want to expedite things you could try offering better solutions that matches your work flow and company structure then the continuous CCing.

If you have multiple bosses, like many of us do, get them both together at the same time and try to offer a more efficient solution.

 

[JedClampett]

Still trying to figure out what the big deal is. If she wants to be CC'd, CC her. Maybe it's her filing systme. Maybe she needs a written record. Maybe she does wants to micromanage you. Whatever it is, pushing back over something so easy is a fight you're going to look bad doing.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Sometimes, Malicious Obedience is the best tactic.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Latexman]

Just do it!

Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[dwallace1971]

Increase your e-mail traffic exponentially.

"On the human scale, the laws of Newtonian Physics are non-negotiable"

 

[zdas04]

"Malicious Obedience". I love that phrase MikeHalloran.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[SomptingGuy]

I say just do it. Not worth making a big deal of it or turning it into a personal battle. Maybe it's a technique to prevent internal squabbling via email. Before hitting send on a snotogram, would I send this to the boss (or to my Mum/Dad)?

- Steve

 

[KENAT]

I was going to say what Mike said, perhaps the best way to prove a system is broken is rigid compliance with it.

For a vaguely similar situation, I once managed to send an email to folks outside my department that offended someones delicate sensibilities. In response my manager said he had to approve all emails to anyone outside of the department. So, I rigidly complied - plus if he hadn't given me the OK within a few minutes I'd do and bug him about it.

I think this particular policy lasted about a week.

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[1gibson]

"Malicious compliance" is the phrase I'm familiar with. Whoops, what I meant to say was that I've never heard of such a thing.

 

[DRWeig]

Malicious compliance = passive-aggressive. Try not to get that label.

Best to you,

Goober Dave

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[KENAT]

"Malicious compliance = passive-aggressive."

Sorry I call BS on that one, or alternatively say that one persons 'Passive Aggressive' is another persons 'Unconventional Warfare' - you know like the US used during the revolutionary war etc.

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[SomptingGuy]

Whatever you want to call it, it's unlikely to be a winning play.

- Steve

 

[KENAT]

Seriously?

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[GregLocock]

Of the seventeen things I need to do every day,cc ing someone who has directly asked me to do that is probably the easiest. I can't even think of a sensible way of not complying.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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