Being ostracized at work - advice please

superman100

I have been with the company over 5 years and a new lead just came onboard about a month ago. I am the senior admin and there are two other admins under me. The lead has been ostracizing me, giving new projects and work to the two other admins lower than me behind my back. I hear about it fast because they ask me for assistance in getting things complete. My technical skills may be threatening him would be my guess. I work extremely hard each day, well liked throughout the team and other teams. My question is...should I confront the new lead professionally or go over him to our boss? I have over a handful of things documented that will help provide evidence in my favor. Go to HR or possibly say I will go to HR if this is not fixed? Definitely a tough situation even though I have been in the workforce a while now. Positive advice/feedback only please. Much appreciated. Thanks

TheFORCE

I'm confused by your issue. You are the Senior admin, he is the Lead. You have two other admins under you. Who do you report to? And who is under the Lead? Does he report to you or do you report to him? Or are you you just "senior" in years with the company? Do the people inder you report to you as per HR organizational chart or by just unofficial office rules.
It's always good office attitude to solve whatever issue with the people first before you go to your boss or to HR.

If i was you, i would tell him straight up and be upfront. I would tell him that "look if you have any new projects that need to be completed, I'd like you to bring them up to me first so you can organize the work load."

cyberguypr

OP, I am also slightly confused but my understanding is that the three of you report to this lead but you are the one with the Sr. title. Correct?

ImThe0ne

TheFORCE wrote: »

If i was you, i would tell him straight up and be upfront. I would tell him that "look if you have any new projects that need to be completed, I'd like you to bring them up to me first so you can organize the work load."

I agree, best thing to do is attempt to handle it like civilized adults. He may very well feel threatened that he came into a position where someone knows more than he knows but you are of a lesser title than he is. I had a similar situation where I had more knowledge than our Lead, he was a bit stand offish for the first month or so until I asked him if I had done something for him to not like me. He dropped a hint that he thought I was trying to come in, show off and take his job, I told him that was the last thing I wanted to do that I was only worried about doing well in my current position, not taking his out from under him. Things straightened out and I like to think we were closer after the chat.

alias454

I wonder why people feel so insecure ^^^^^ I mean HE was hired for the job not you after all. Why do people forget that? The same goes for the OP too. I can see getting attitude form someone that didn't get the job but I would think that would manifest itself differently then someone continuing to work hard. I personally like to work around people smarter than myself. Without having a conversation, all this is conjecture though. Ask them straight up so things can be out on the table.

Regards,

scaredoftests

Yes, ask the person.

networker050184

Isn't the leads job to assign projects to the other admins?

LeBroke

Take his job?

kohr-ah

Based on what you said I have a question and a response.

- Is he giving you projects still?

- And what evidence do you plan on giving them? (Dont mean this as a wank) The guy above me isn't giving me projects and here is my proof? I don't know what HR would even do about something like this. It isn't like he looked at you and went "I think you are awful at this. I am going to make sure they know how little you mean to me". Then HR would probably care.

Otherwise honestly just do like the others said. Go and just ask the lead guy for more projects.

nster

There is a difference between managing and being senior. I understand the perhaps the old Lead would delegate some of the leading to you, however it is within reason that the new one doesn't. You can ask him to be informed if you feel you need to be, or perhaps suggest him to go by you first that you can help out as you know the other admins best etc. You can inform him things were done differently before as long as you emphasize you are willing to do it his way now.

Just DON'T be confrontational. Make him want you to be involved

NetworkNewb

I'd talk with him, you said you work extremely hard. Maybe he just thinks you have a lot going on and doesn't want to add more to your plate.

superman100

Apologies for the confusion in regards to the positions. Lead>SeniorAdmin>Admins, which all of us take orders/direction from the Lead and then all report to a manager. The lead assigns a good amount of the projects to work on and some of those projects with higher importance and complexity have been assigned to the admins. At that point, I will be assign cleanup work or a small piece of that same project with much lower value. I have evidence of the projects and how the Lead always refers to the admins first before me. I will admit, I am always learning and trying to sharpen my skills in weak areas, but from a technicality standpoint I am solid. I have trained both admins not holding back any knowledge, trying to build the team for the betterment of the company. I backup the Lead in times when he hasn't made the best choices, rookie mistakes and poor designs/solutions so far. It has been clear I stand by him, but he has not been treating me fairly in regards to work and respect. I can even tell the admins are noticing this at times, just by the looks and feelings in our team meetings. I plan to pull him aside soon - I do appreciate all the replies as they are valuable to me in preparation of my soon to discussion. Thank you

olaHalo

^^
He either
-thinks you cant handle the jobs he is assigning to your lower admins
-thinks youre overqualified for the jobs he is assigning to your lower admins
-thinks you dont want that work
-doesnt like you
-thinks your skillset can be used elsewhere
-doesnt realize and is unaware that those jobs should go to you (he is new after all)

Sheiko37

In the corporate world people are generally good, if you tell them what you want and where you want to be they will remember and help you get there when and if they can. Don't just assume people know what you want.

It sounds like a misunderstanding, he's only been there a month, I'd just talk to him, do not use the language you're using in this thread and accuse him of disrespecting you.

echo_time_cat

I'd really be interesting in hearing how the conversation went. I've been in this position (figuratively) before, as I'm sure others have. It always fascinates me how we can (as people) have all these ideas about how others are perceiving us based on a situation or behavior, and attribute so many opinions to that person. Sometimes we are right in our assumptions, and sometimes we are way off. Hopefully it works out well for the OP, and it sounds like he's done a great job being the senior admin, training the team and not being selfish.

d4nz1g

Don't be so jealous. Maybe he is trying to raise the level of the other admins. Why don't you take the initiative to assist both of them on their projects, maybe acquiring some leadership and project management skills?

chmod

A fight of power, the old dog don't want the new one to piss on his domain.

You should get used to have a boss and IMO you should help him to adapt to the company rather than making it difficult for him, he was hired for a reason.

Keeping a positive enviroment is always important for everybody, you don't have to be a proxy to be in command(every request should go through me then i redirect the request) or a pigeon post to be in command(tell me what you want them to do so i can tell them and be seen as the boss).

If you are that good and have the respect and the leadership he will acknowledge that sooner or later. If you are not the boss there is no reason to think the new one should threat you as the boss, but if you are a leader sooner or later he will work closer with you.

tt0000

Just wow, I had the same similar situation except this person was very lazy not doing their job, forcing other team members to pick up the slack of their own actions and the person did not have much high level technical skills either which was shown when they could not troubleshoot simple things but I chose to leave the company in favor of a new position somewhere else as I have low tolerance for stuff like this. However, I went over their head to the CIO of IT dept and other higher up people to let them know why I was leaving in my resignation letter.
At least in the future when they can't get work done , they will know why? Sorry to tell you but HR will not fix your problem and complaining to them will never help in your favor it will do more harm than good. You only have three options . 1.) Deal with their mess (Put up /Shut up ) 2.) transfer to a different dept /position or 3.) leave the company ( if you have solid in demand skills there should not be an issue finding another position). I always find myself choosing the latter as life is too short to be somewhere working with someone who makes your work life miserable as it usually affects your outside life most of the time and it is not worth it.

apr911

Curious to know how this turned out for you.

To me this sounds like a bit of a miscommunication and mismanaged expectations. Your manager is doing what he is supposed to be doing, he's assigning projects to admins and utilizing the resources of his team effectively.

Before discussing the issue with your manager, you should also look at your own motivations and why you are feeling the way you are in regards to this.

Are you feeling underutilized or just upset that projects arent being run by you first?

If its the former, then you need to let your supervisor know you're feeling underutilized and give him and opportunity to fix it or tell fill you in on why he's been assigning the projects as he has. Maybe he thinks he's being fair and equitable in project assignment (and maybe he is but as a "senior" admin, you can handle more) or maybe he is trying to clear your plate for a big project he has planned for you or maybe, as someone else has said, he's trying to bring up the rest of the team or maybe his expectation is that the Jr. Admins will come to you for escalations as they are doing and that dealing with those escalations is your "project."

If its the later, then you need to ask yourself are you legitimately being harmed by the way your manager is assigning projects?

While you may feel he should be running these projects by you, he is under no obligation to do so. That being said, if the manner of project assignment is legitimately causing you harm in your career, then again that is something you need to examine. If it's causing you to rework your own projects then you need to inform your supervisor and let him know the impact these other projects are having on your own, if the supervisor is non-technical he might legitimately not realize the impact of these projects. If you feel its harming your career progression, talk to him about what he envisions as your career growth plan.

Bottom line, as someone else already said, watch your tone when speaking with him. He's new to the job and he's a new controlling aspect of your job and there are bound to be some growing pains.

chmod

I still think the bottom-line is that he is upset because things are not going thru him. I have felt like that in the past but i was younger and i was wrong.

You can be a leader while at the same time you let other develop into sr admins, let them work by themselves and let them learn how to handle things by themselves, if you have good work ethic, work hard, demonstrate what you are capable of on a daily basis they will see you as the leader and also will your new team leader/supervisor/manager or whatever.

You don't have to be the guy that tells them what to do or how to do it to be considered the boss. At the end they are getting paid too and they have hands/legs/mouth/eyes and everything else like you, so they can learn and get things done too.

Also have a chat with your supervisor and let him know how you feel, but change your mind-set and read about leadership, what is really to be a leader and a mentor rather than the guy that tells them what to do and expect them to report back to you when you say so.

Learn how to conciliate.