Funny Management style!

Author
Discussion

James6112

Original Poster:

5,400 posts

35 months

Thursday 28th March
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I’ve been in company 25+ years. A design person, zero interest in management as people are involved!
No real need to work, over 60, work from home, paid well, office a couple of times a month thanks Covid. All good.

Previous manager 10 years, good guy, finger on the pulse. Still speak to him daily.

8 weeks ago a shakeup, moved to a new manager.
Next time I was in the office, 6 weeks ago, I said hello, friendly enough. Said he will catch up with me to see what I do.

That was it, not heard from him since!
He does sign the Crime Sheets.

Nothing personal, another guy I know works for him, ‘light touch’!

Guess I’ll carry on, unless called into the office more etc then will call it a day.


Tango13

8,921 posts

183 months

Thursday 28th March
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I worked at a place with a lead hand like that, he would come round at the beginning of the shift to check I had everything I needed and leave me to it, sometimes I'd see him after lunch but that would be it for the day.

He once gave me a pile of work at the beginning of the week, I asked if he needed the parts in any particular order and he replied to do them in whatever order worked best for me, didn't speak to him about work related matters for the rest of the week.

When I was on nights sometimes I wouldn't have any contact with the management for weeks or even months at a time.

austina35

365 posts

59 months

Saturday 30th March
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I've not seen my boss since December last year. He never calls me or email me either. His style is to let you role with it. He's an OK person but would throw you under the bus if he had to.

I will be resigning on Tuesday after 7 years as the job has become boring.

vaud

52,364 posts

162 months

Saturday 30th March
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James6112 said:
He does sign the Crime Sheets.
Daring to ask what you do?

snuffy

10,459 posts

291 months

Saturday 30th March
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vaud said:
James6112 said:
He does sign the Crime Sheets.
Daring to ask what you do?
Timesheets.

AW111

9,674 posts

140 months

Sunday 31st March
quotequote all
We haven't seen our boss for months.
He's overseas, and we do all communications electronically.

One zoom meeting a week, and the rest is email / chat.

RC1807

12,978 posts

175 months

Monday 1st April
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Sounds ideal, OP.
I'd suggest it may be worthwhile letting him know what you're doing and how you're doing things, so he doesn't bin you off thinking you do nothing.


As a sales oik, I must ensure all my meetings and opportunities are recorded in Salesforce, but that's always a good habit for reference / sharing, anyway.

Edited by RC1807 on Sunday 19th May 09:25

mwstewart

8,028 posts

195 months

Wednesday 3rd April
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Sounds good to me.

Mars

9,097 posts

221 months

Wednesday 3rd April
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I have had three bosses in the past 5 years. Before COVID, I used to work in the office with No1. During COVID, transferred to No2 since when I have met him in person only once. Recently transferred to No3. Only had 1 video conf with him and 1 email exchange. He even said his management style was hands off and to let him know if I need anything.

Perfectly suits me.

sir humphrey appleby

1,695 posts

229 months

Friday 5th April
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Sounds ideal.

I probably have a team chat with my boss once a month.

Don't even talk about work, just what we have been up to with the family, if there is anything I need give her a call anytime, have a good weekend etc.
It's good to be trusted and be left to get on with it.

I would say to the OP you're onto a good thing there, I've been micro-managed in the past and it is dreadful.

Stick Legs

5,909 posts

172 months

Friday 5th April
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I sent a text to my boss explain that the port schedule for the ship may have to be re-arranged due to weather.

Got a thumbs up.

I ran my revised program & it worked out.

I like working like this. Some people really don’t.

James6112

Original Poster:

5,400 posts

35 months

Saturday 6th April
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It sounds ideal, but also a little disconcerting, weird really.

Saying that, he has set up a meeting at the end of April for a chat (via Teams)!

Just different really.


Mirinjawbro

768 posts

71 months

Saturday 6th April
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ive also had a few managers like this.

i did a 6 month contract role for BP a few years ago. i would honestly say i averaged maybe an hour of work a week.

for the last 10/12 weeks of the contract the manager was changing company and apart from signing my timesheets every week never said a word until i left.

sounds good and it is for a while. but needing to be near the PC incase of a call or email can keep a full easy day of plans away.


LightningBlue

569 posts

48 months

Sunday 7th April
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My managers are like this, it is good to be trusted but I find the lack of contact strange, my previous manager and I ended up friends and he’d call in my office every couple of days for a chat about F1 news and things like that and just making sure I’m well and enjoying the job - there’s none of that since he retired so it’s lacking a personal touch since.

Sheepshanks

35,002 posts

126 months

Sunday 7th April
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Mirinjawbro said:
ive also had a few managers like this.

i did a 6 month contract role for BP a few years ago. i would honestly say i averaged maybe an hour of work a week.

for the last 10/12 weeks of the contract the manager was changing company and apart from signing my timesheets every week never said a word until i left.

sounds good and it is for a while. but needing to be near the PC incase of a call or email can keep a full easy day of plans away.
You could have used the time to boost your PH post count. wink

Scabutz

8,160 posts

87 months

Sunday 7th April
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I would take it as a compliment. I'm sure he's had a handover or notes from the previous manager and you've been marked as being dependable who gets your work done and doesn't need much attention.

He's probably spending most of time with those marked out as problems.

I managed a number of people, I flex my contact with them based on what they want and need. Some I speak to most days, others I catch up with every couple of weeks. I say do you want more contact amd thay say no I know where you are if I need something.

My boss insists on having a weekly 121 in the diary even though most of the time he's got nothing to talk about.

Mr Penguin

2,708 posts

46 months

Monday 8th April
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I have a 121 with my manager every week. Nothing happens as a result because if I have any problems then he directs me to someone else. If I tell him what work I've done then he doesn't want to know because I should be showing someone else. Once a year I have a performance review where he writes two lines which could apply to anyone (one year he actually did write the same thing for everyone) and it lasts for more than a couple of minutes.

It seems pointless to me but my performance rating is okay and he seems happy with the meeting blocking the calendar so it'll continue like that until one of us leaves.

anonymous-user

61 months

Monday 8th April
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I didn't see my manager for over a year once.

Mont Blanc

1,408 posts

50 months

Monday 8th April
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That is pretty much how I manage people.

I have absolutely zero interest in micromanaging, and I know that I can trust them all 100% to deliver on their objectives, and behave in an entirely professional manner, so I just leave them to it.

I make it clear to them that they can come to me at any time and I will help them, assist them to make a decision, put my name to decisions on their behalf, listen to their problems, review their work if they ask, and so on, but I don't involve myself in their day to day.

They don't even have to ask me if they can go off early at short notice to pick a kid up from nursery or something. Not interested in what hours they work or if they have taken a day off.

It works for me, and more importantly, they tell me it works for them.

White-Noise

4,530 posts

255 months

Monday 8th April
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Mont Blanc said:
That is pretty much how I manage people.

I have absolutely zero interest in micromanaging, and I know that I can trust them all 100% to deliver on their objectives, and behave in an entirely professional manner, so I just leave them to it.

I make it clear to them that they can come to me at any time and I will help them, assist them to make a decision, put my name to decisions on their behalf, listen to their problems, review their work if they ask, and so on, but I don't involve myself in their day to day.

They don't even have to ask me if they can go off early at short notice to pick a kid up from nursery or something. Not interested in what hours they work or if they have taken a day off.

It works for me, and more importantly, they tell me it works for them.
This is what works for me and those that I report to as well. So long as folks deliver, don't cause too many headaches it's all good.