Opinions on Personnel issues.

pixa241

Just looking for some advice and opinions on a little situation I have. In the below chart is our current Org flow. As you can see myself and another person are at the same level but handle different teams. The issue is the other person likes to be in everything, even in things that do not pertain to them or their team. They will insinuate to other departments that hes the boss of the whole department, but he is not. So because of his insinuations, everyone usually contacts him, even when they need something from my team. Sometimes they will re direct them to me, but other times they will try and help them, and when they fail, they then re direct to me, and I have to clean up the mess. Has anyone dealt with this, and if so what did you do. Would you wait for the new boss to let them know your concerns, or would you go to the current boss and let him know your concerns. Thanks guys!

CTO (Current Boss)

|
New Boss (Current Vacant Position)
|
|

---

|
Supervisor

---

Me

amcnow

Have you spoken to this troublesome supervisor first? If not, then that should be your next step. If you are (or have been) unable to resolve this among yourselves, then you should escalate the situation to your current boss.

If I was the new incoming boss, I would be disappointed to immediately find myself in the middle of a situation when it could have been addressed beforehand.

pixa241

I have not spoke to them myself, but before I moved into my role our old boss had spoken to them about this particular issue a few times.

Russ5813

I agree with amcnow that your first step should be to address the issue with your colleague. You might also write up a doc detailing the scope of work for each section and ask your boss to publish it. This will help your new boss understand the roles he oversees, and should minimize those headache-inducing situations you've described, going forward.

networker050184

Agree with Russ5813. Talk to your colleague and ensure the appropriate info is published and everyone knows where to go for help.

xxxkaliboyxxx

Quick tip, not sure if there could be a 3rd party with equal authority, aka another supervisor from a different sections, but you should consider bringing along.

OctalDump

I'd be completely tactless and send out an email to everyone explaining how things actually work eg:

"Just an update about how IT is running in the interim while we wait for a new boss:

IT has two teams
I run Team A and look after x, y, z. I am your first point of call for these issues.
That idiot runs Team B and looks after a, b, c. Contact them for those issues.

Thanks for your time, and I hope this streamlines the process for everyone!"

Or if you want to be more tactful, you could suggest this to the CTO first. "I noticed that some service requests aren't being handled as well as they could be, and resolution times are taking more effort and time, since people are not sure who to contact in the interim. Can I suggest sending an email to everyone/department heads (whoever is appropriate), to clarify? I've prepared this example text."

So you go to the CTO with a well defined problem, expressed in business terms, with a prepared solution with a small decision for them to make (who to send to). They will likely say yes.