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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Manager Tools.
- [00:03]
B
This is Sarah and I'm Mark.
- [00:05]
A
Today's podcast, My Boss Doesn't Support company guidance.
- [00:09]
B
Part 1 of 1 this cast answers these questions. What if my boss is not supporting leadership? What if my boss talks negatively about the company or leadership? How can I support the company if my boss doesn't?
- [00:25]
A
If you want answers to these questions and more, keep listening.
- [00:31]
Want to make next year's training plan simple and effective? Manage youe Tools brings proven leadership and management training directly to your organization virtually or on site. Develop your team without disrupting their schedule. Plan early and send us an email to customerserviceanager-tools.com and let Maggie help you with your team's training and development needs.
- [00:58]
So, Mark, we heard from someone at a recent public conference that we were hosting an effective Senior manager conference, and this podcast is meant to address her question.
- [01:09]
B
Yeah. So look, many professionals, including bosses, do not know the law of professional subordination, about which we have guidance elsewhere. They don't understand that role power, the part of power that everybody thinks is important but really isn't. Role power allows the manager to speak for the organization. That literally is what role power is. The CEO can't speak to everybody all the time, so he or she delegates to you the authority to speak for him. And by the way, as you might imagine, there's a lot of trust involved in that. That is what your role power is.
- [01:52]
But what happens if your boss is not supporting the firm? I mean, it's basically unethical. It's not comfortable for you. At least if you know that he's saying X and the company is saying the opposite of X. You may not know that, but it does happen. And we're going to tell you what to do about it.
- [02:16]
A
Yeah. Yes. So our outline for today's cast is. First, if your boss doesn't support the firm, it's unethical and it's wrong, then you must choose to support the firm and finally, avoid public disagreement with your boss.
- [02:32]
B
Yeah. So your boss is not supporting the firm. When you first hear your boss disagreeing with a company policy, most managers assume they should support their boss.
- [02:45]
A
Why wouldn't they?
- [02:46]
B
Right. It makes sense in a way. It makes sense because the way most managers think about things, they support their boss. Maybe you don't agree with your boss all the time, but you know, you don't want to go around disagreeing with her.
- [02:59]
A
I'm pretty sure we've given that guidance before.
- [03:02]
B
Yeah, some people don't understand that when they're agreeing with their boss, they're not just doing it out of self interest. Or let me, let me say that differently. Many people simply support their boss out of self interest. And this is one of those cases where if you do that and you don't understand the underlying reason for why you're supposed to support your boss as a matter of your role, you then will be led astray in situations where your boss is not in alignment with the entire organization. So people think of it as self preservation, when in fact it's more than that. It's way more than that.
- [03:41]
A
Absolutely. Now this podcast obviously, though, is for the case where your boss is disagreeing with the company and therefore you agreeing with your boss and aligning yourself against the organization. It's wrong. It's wrong. Again, in spite of your natural inclination for self preservation. And we submit, most managers don't know the underlying principles that make organizations work. Most managers think they're supposed to agree with their boss because of self preservation, because it's their boss. But agreeing with your boss, it's not about you. It's about the larger rule that managers speak for the organization. And usually it's true that your boss, you can agree with them, you can support them because they are aligned with the organization. So, I mean, the two things usually make sense. But what if your boss says, we're doing it this way and it's against the organization? It's not against in alignment with the organization itself, and your boss wants you aligned with them against the organization. Now what?
- [05:09]
B
Yeah.
- [05:12]
Well, the answer is you speak for the organization as your boss does. But if your boss is not speaking for the organization, that does not mean you're supposed to agree with your boss.
- [05:23]
A
Right?
- [05:23]
B
Because your boss is no longer speaking for the firm. And if he disagrees with the company, he is not speaking for the firm. And so you can see in this case where self preservation goes out the window. Because your self preservation in supporting your boss because he or she is the person closest to you and is most likely to get you in trouble because they know what you're doing and or not doing that self preservation is the wrong way to think of the motivation. Because in this case, if you support your boss, you are no longer supporting the firm. And that is a fundamental problem. So the first item here is you have to choose to support the firm. And this is problematic for you because your boss has broken the rule of his or her responsibility to speak for the company. And so again, you get to this conundrum, whom should I support? But here's a Sub rule. And look, you're probably thinking, I didn't know this sub. Yeah, the vast majority of managers in the world don't know the first rule, so how would they know the sub rule? And that is, even when your boss disagrees with the organization, your obligation to support the company does not change. So the fact that the boss disagrees with the firm, if he wants to do that, if she wants to do that, it's fine, but he has then released you from your obligation to support him because he is no longer supporting the firm. Simple as that.
- [06:55]
A
Exactly, folks. Your responsibility to speak for the firm does not change when your boss chooses not to support the firm. It makes it a lot harder, but it doesn't change your responsibility one bit. And if you think about it a little, you'll begin to realize how most organizations are run. They're run on trust and not on power. So think of it this way. The CEO can't know that every person is supporting what she has said and committed to. She can't. There's no way for her to know that. But she can trust that they support her. So when your boss chooses not to support the company, your boss has broken trust with the organization itself. And when your boss asks you to agree with him, he's asking you to break trust with the organization as well. And surely we don't have to say it, but if you break trust with your organization, you are obligated to leave your organization. It's just that easy. You can't work against them and still be paid by them if you can.
- [08:20]
B
Yeah. So now what do you do? First, it's possible that you don't know what the organization actually expected of your boss. And so if you think this is happening, if that's the case, you must proceed as if your boss is supporting. Let's assume you don't know what came down to your boss, right? So you have to assume your boss is supporting the firm and things are as they should be, and you're basically responsible for executing his or her guidance. And this is true 99% of the time.
- [08:57]
A
And folks, if in this scenario, you later find out that your boss is not actually speaking for and supporting the company, you must confront your boss with this disconnect. Now, before you do that, we recommend you talk to your peers, who also report to your boss and find out, if possible, without mentioning that you're working on Bravo. Let's say that's that the option that the organization has not chosen, but your boss has chosen. We'll. We'll Call that Bravo. So, if possible, you're going to talk to your peers without mentioning that you're working on this other Bravo priority and determine or figure out whether or not they're in this same situation. Because it's possible that everyone else is in line with Alpha, and it would be good to know that they're all in line with Alpha before you approach your boss. It's also possible that everyone else is picking up what your team might have done on Alpha and your boss is using you as a skunk. Works of sorts, if you will, to make headway for another bite at the apple if maybe Alpha fails. Now, this is risky for your boss, but it could be a feasible approach, though certainly a risky approach for your boss to proceed with.
- [10:30]
B
Yeah, and we got a little ahead of ourselves talking about Alpha and Bravo, but we'll. We'll clean that up here in a minute. Keep in mind that in all of this, that if your boss briefed everyone together.
- [10:42]
And again, let's say that we've got a difference between Alpha and Bravo, and there's a disconnect between you and your boss on that. If he or she told everyone on your, all your peers and you that they're all going to be working on Alpha while he has you and your team working on Bravo. This is not an ethical issue. Okay? You probably can't do anything about it. And it is definitely that public briefing that makes the difference. You, Your boss isn't hiding that he's choosing Bravo over Alpha. He's just hedging his bets, even though he feel. It certainly feels more risky for you and your team.
- [11:25]
A
Now, folks, earlier I said we recommend you confront your boss.
- [11:31]
B
That's right.
- [11:31]
A
Now, I want to clean that up a little bit. We did not mean we want you to create a confrontation in some sort of dramatic way with your boss. We mean going to your boss privately and expressing your concerns. Again, privately. Ask your boss to explain what he's doing versus what the company wants and explain that he's putting you and your organization at risk.
- [11:59]
B
Yeah, when I was writing that, the part about confrontation, I thought, oh, I'm afraid people are going to really be. Be aggressive on that.
- [12:07]
A
It is.
- [12:08]
B
It might sound like this in this situation. Hey, boss, I've just found out that the division decided on Plan Alpha despite your support and efforts to have your boss's boss support Plan Bravo. You didn't tell me that. And me and my team are faithfully executing Plan Bravo per your guidance. Okay. This puts my team at risk in that we're not doing anything around Plan Alpha. I found out from a couple of your peer bosses folks that they're all working on plan Alpha. I think you know, boss, these plans are different enough that we can't do both. If I keep doing what you've directed, my team is at enormous risk if Division asks for updates on Alpha and I don't have any. Or for that matter, your department is slow to deliver on Alpha because it's discovered that we're all working on Bravo. And if we were working on Alpha, we could have picked up the slack. If I do what Division wants, I'm going to be crossways with you. I think this also puts you at risk if someone from Division asks for updates. You'll look bad when I have to tell them that we're not doing Alpha. I can't lie about it and I definitely won't ask my team to lie about it. Am I missing something? How do you expect me to proceed? And folks, just as an aside, okay, so that's the speech. Just as an aside. That phrase, am I missing something? Is what I call a fig leaf phrase. If you leave out the am I missing something? You say, I can't lie about it. I won't ask my team to. How do you expect me to proceed? Okay, in that case, that is confrontational because you're saying, I know what you're doing and it's wrong. And I you're going to put me in an awkward situation and I won't defend you. Okay? But when you ask, am I missing something? It implies that you just missed a briefing, you missed an email. You don't understand what your boss is doing. This is a completely legitimate situation that happens all the time. Some communication got missed, some briefing was given where you weren't there and you're doing Bravo. But maybe you think you should also be doing Alpha somehow. And so don't forget that. Am I missing something? That's an important one.
- [14:34]
A
Yeah. And folks, if you are a licensee, we recommend that you print off that script, if you will, that Mark just mentioned. It's in our show notes. You can write it down. You can insert over top of Alpha and Bravo and Division some more specific customized words for your situation. But pay not only attention to the words that Mark just said, but the tone and the speed at which he said them. Going back to the word confrontation, that didn't sound confrontational because it's not supposed to come across confrontational. Although the word in its very definition, confrontation is the right word. I think many of us have got a, a feeling for what the interpretation behind the word is. And please don't think it to be a negative. It's really just a right.
- [15:24]
B
In this case, you actually are confronting your boss. But confrontations and confronting have taken on a more sometimes sinister but just a more dramatic, as you used the word earlier, dramatic tone that it doesn't have to be you. If you go up to your boss and say, I don't understand, you're confronting him or her about what the situation is and how you're at risk and your boss has an obligation to address your risk. Certainly.
- [15:51]
A
Yeah. And folks, we can't honestly say what your boss is going to tell you to do, what they're going to say in return. We hope for your sake and your boss's sake that he acknowledges that you're right and changes to Plan Alpha. But again, we don't know necessarily what's going to happen.
- [16:11]
B
Yeah. Now if he doesn't, we recommend you talk to a mentor or a more senior person about this ethical dilemma you're in. You could, depending upon the nature of your upward relationships, also use an open door request. But gotta be careful about open doors in this situation because that approach, the open door approach, it essentially requires you to go to your boss, have the discussion and then say, you know, I'm not satisfied with your answer. I want to open door discussion with your boss. Okay. So that then shows your cards to your boss and you may want to do something more, a little bit more politically wise and go talk to a mentor or someone whom you trust more senior who could give you some perspective. Maybe there's something you don't know about what's going on.
- [17:03]
A
Yeah, that's exactly it. So your conversation with a mentor might sound like this. I've got an ethical dilemma I need some guidance on. You probably know that our division is implementing Plan Alpha, but unfortunately for my team, my boss has told us to ignore Alpha and go with his recommended Plan Bravo. This puts my team in a bind about reporting on Plan Alpha's metrics. While we aren't really working on it, and I've talked to him and he's given me no clear sense that I'm to change what we're doing.
- [17:37]
B
Now if you think about it for a second, folks, this is risky, but look, we would love to tell you there is a risk free situation when your boss is openly disagreeing. If in fact that's what's happening here, openly disagreeing with what the company wants to do. Okay. That is, that's a tough situation. And I wish we had snap your fingers solution that was easy peasy and it was Teflon quick. Communicating about virtually all truly ethical dilemmas is risky and we're still obligated to undertake the communication. Your boss will almost inevitably find out.
- [18:23]
And you're right, he could punish you for going over his head. And I hate to say it because we're recommending you do the right thing, but sometimes you do the right thing and you get in trouble for it. So this is why we encourage you to live small financially at home, keep your internal and external networks warm, and be ready in the event you're put in an untenable situation. Now look, some of you will say, yeah, you know, it happened early in my career and I just went with what my boss said and nobody got in trouble, so I'm comfortable protecting myself and so on. The problem is, if you do that five more times in your career, your brain starts rewriting where the line is and then you do something that's across the line and always was across the line, but you don't really think it is. And now you've been fired and you've been fired for cause and it's made public and your career is probably over. All because you went along, it was okay, you were interested in self preservation, you weren't interested in doing what the right thing was. I often end my prayers when I'm given an opportunity to pray with a group of people which says the part of the cadet prayer make us to choose the harder right over the easier wrong and never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won. And you may be put in this situation and you may have to make a tough choice and you could probably get away with making the easier choice, but just be careful about what that does to your ethical musculature. It will soften it and you may make a mistake later that you'll regret for a long time.
- [20:14]
A
Now folks, going back to this idea that your boss may be making an unethical decision and you may find yourself in a position where you need to find a new position. If your boss is indeed behaving unethically and you are in a larger firm generally, you can assume that there are some other protections from your boss's behavior and retribution for your honesty. And it, it might not come to that, it might not come to that. But we do want you to be prepared because that is a potential outcome, large firm or small firm. So knowing that before you do this is just, it's just good to Know that. And if nothing comes of it, great. And if something does, at least you were prepared for it. Now, if your mentor or other senior leader, the one that you've gone to in this case is smart, they'll have a conversation with someone above your boss while protecting you. For instance, he might suggest to the division leader that he's hearing rumors that there are parts of the division that are working on Bravo versus Alpha and they need to run a top to bottom plan review. And folks, we suspect if this review happens, that your boss will quickly tell you to switch gears, shelf Bravo for now at least, and get busy on Alpha. So it might not even come to to anything. Your boss may find themselves in a position where they feel they must change plans. And again, you get what you want. The organization is all moving in sync with one another.
- [21:58]
B
And yeah, folks, it is possible, as I alluded to earlier, this situation ruins your relationship with your boss. That mentor is clumsy and makes it obvious that you were the one that brought it up. And your boss starts punishing you, maybe sort of under the table, but nevertheless, it's very clear that your relationship has fundamentally changed. And again, that's proof that doing the right thing isn't always rewarded. But remember something, doing the right thing is always its own reward. One of the problems with the world today is people are always wanting to know, where do I sit? How much do I get? When's lunch? When can I quit? They're focused on the outcomes, what they get from doing a thing, when actually we should focus on doing the thing and doing it ethically. And look again, I hate to say it, but you're in a tough spot. We recur to our earlier guidance about being ready to look for another job. Is it fair? No. That's why when people claim fairness, they want fairness in the workplace. Like, nope, not going to happen. The world is not fair. The world is not just. I think, in fact, we have a podcast called the Fallacy of the Just World. It's one of our political podcasts that is just the way the world is. Heaven forbid you know what the right thing is to do, you don't do it. And then you discover that. Then some senior leader discovers that you are willfully disagreeing and disobeying what the organization wants because your boss is telling you to. If that, if that happens and you're just being loyal to your boss because you think you can get away with it politically, both of you are going to get fired and it'll be your fault because you didn't do the right thing. Now, you can complain and say, wait, I could get fired for doing the wrong thing or my boss could ruin me to the point where I'd have to go find another job if I do the right thing. Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's the ethical dilemma. No question. So the question is, what do you want to do? I would suggest do the right thing.
- [24:05]
A
Agreed. Now folks, sometimes the things that that go without saying do need to be said. Do not publicly disagree with your boss or call out in a public forum the dilemma that his decisions have created. Your job is not to be a whistleblower or a do gooder or an ethical warrior here. In fact, your job is to find a way to be as supportive as possible while also fulfilling your responsibility to the firm, which again, the firm chose alpha. So really, you're not trying to cause this tete to tete. What you're trying to do is get your boss to realign behind the organization, not come to an impasse. If you will.
- [25:00]
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- [25:28]
B
Okay, so let me summarize. Obviously, I think we've made the case that ethical dilemmas are no fun. But a leader doesn't bury her head in the sand when one comes along. You can see in this situation where so much of our previous guidance helps, good relationships, integrity, your network, and great communication skills, just to mention a few. That's it.
- [25:56]
A
Perfect. Thank you, Mark.
- [25:58]
B
Thank you, Sarah.
- [25:59]
A
All right, thanks folks. We hope this helped you. Now help us help others and tell your friends. And of course, follow rate and review our podcast. And remember, five stars only. Please.
- [26:21]
B
Sa.