so..i have this new Supervisor.

boom

WKR
Joined
Sep 11, 2013
Messages
3,185
hahaha..

i'm not gonna blow smoke up anyone's ass and say i am a stellar employee; but i certainly don't suck. :)

he laid down a new law, when he got here. i had to have a report completed and sent to him on thursday. i have three such projects, so three reports. Thursday is the day of the week i really hit my stride. problems solved, bills paid..change orders written. SCREECH! time to write a report. i have not missed a deadline yet.

3x now. he comes up to me and tells me i have to send him the report on time "where is it?". 3x now, i tell him, i have already sent it. hahhaha

today, he says, "oh, i get hundreds of emails..."

i said, "that really isn't my issue."

when i become supervisor, i made a promise to myself to not do this. i will look first, and then ask if they sent it it..not assume they didnt. hell, i probably wont even require such a useless report.

now to use the work computer to look at NM hunt odds :)
 

rayporter

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Jul 3, 2014
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Location
arkansas or ohio
over the course of my career i was exceptionally lucky to only have one of those, and he was temporary. lasted a month. everyone argued with him cause he had such stupid ideas of the job and how he ran your life at work.

me, i just said "ok, whatever you say" it made him even madder to hear that. then i just ignored him.
 

bozeman

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Dec 5, 2016
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Alabama
When you 'become' a supervisor, then reply to this thread.....as a Dept Mgr, I get, on average, over 300 emails/day (does not include text, Teams Msgs or written memos to review). How you manage it? 3D's...…….Do, Delegate, Delete...….until he figures that out, he will drown under the sheer magnitude of information...….
 

H2PVon

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
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195
Location
Western PA
Had one that really needed to have power. Wrote me up for being one minute late one day. He had decided we all needed to be there at 7am, there was a wreck after dropping my son off at daycare a couple weeks later making me late. What he forgot is that I usually stayed well past officially when I had to be there. The argument at 2:48 pm that very day went like this:
Him "We need that sample sent today so make sure it's in UPS before you go."
Me "Ok."
Him "Then make sure to log your hours."
Me "Well, I'm not going to have time to do both so which do you want?"
Him "Both"
Me "Well, since we are going by exact times now you've got 3 choices.
#1 I can make sure to get the sample sent
#2 I can log my hours
#3 We can argue about it for the 9 minutes that I have left to be here and then I leave.
Which do you prefer?"

Him "Send the sample."

Never had that argument again. Fortunately there were many others above him that knew what was going on and that he was a complete cancer to that department.
 
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
525
if you want to challenge him, give it to him when he asks and review it together. Find out why its important that he has to have it a certain time and way. Sometimes a little conversation eliminates a lot of unnecessary work. As a supervisor, I motivate people by showing how important it is for me, then how much i appreciate the extra effort it requires.
 

WCB

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Jun 12, 2019
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Pretty standard really...went into a meeting to talk about a proposal on keeping/expanding the role of a company we were contracting for work to help with another one of our brands. I handled the account and had all of my documents, costs, projections were ready to go. The individual that called the meeting that had to pull corporate into the issue had nothing ready and insisted that he had passed the info on to me through email and I was supposed to have it put together.

Needless to say after a bit of back and forth and him basically calling me a liar ...the tone of his voice and message changed pretty quick when I produced on the screen in the conference room every email exchange between me and him and searched for the email he said he sent and none was found.
 

P Carter

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Nov 4, 2016
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Idaho
I can tell an employee is going to be a star when they do things not just to get them off their plate (defensively), but rather do things to be helpful. Like, after sending me something, if I haven't gotten back to them, they may swing by and say, "Hey I gave you that work product yesterday, didn't hear back. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help." Half the time it helps me stay on schedule. Some of the time I have them do the follow-up step, and now they're adding value and moving up the ladder. Or sometimes it could be, "You know, I don't do anything with that, it's a waste of time, let's skip it going forward."

My grandfather told me, "If your attitude is, 'that's not my job,' then it will never be your job."

Of course, sometimes annoying things have to be done just to check the box. And some people are just tough to deal with.

Also, I've tried to make a habit of doing this. Before I call someone an idiot, I think: "One of us is an idiot. Is he/she being the idiot, or am I being the idiot?"

Just thought I'd throw those out there! Best of luck either way.
 

CorbLand

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Mar 16, 2016
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My grandfather told me, "If your attitude is, 'that's not my job,' then it will never be your job."

Also, I've tried to make a habit of doing this. Before I call someone an idiot, I think: "One of us is an idiot. Is he/she being the idiot, or am I being the idiot?"

While agree with the first statement, its a fine line. I have worked for people that recognize when you go above and beyond and reward it but I have worked for some that come to expect that from you. One of my greatest moments was having a boss tell me something similar to what your grandpa said when I refused to something. Basically went like this.

Boss "you will never have my job if your unwilling to do these things"
Me " I dont want your job...hence why I am refusing to do it"
Boss "..."

You second point has saved me from looking like a dumbass many times.
 

MattB

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Sep 29, 2012
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My wife is pretty clever and when she get micromanaging bosses she micromanages them back. Email him to confirm receipt of the report and put time on his calendar to review (don't give him a ton of time for that). Turn any feedback quickly and repeat. Should quiet things down.
 

Sekora

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 4, 2017
Messages
291
I had a few really good bosses, and one or two bad bosses in my working career. I worked hard for all of them, and was rewarded with a supervisors position when it was "my turn". I now try to model myself, as a supervisor, after the bosses who left a good impression on me when I was the worker under them, and also try not to be the guy everyone hates to work for like the few I did. I have a really good working relationship with the guys I work with. I try to make them know that we are all working together, just have different roles in accomplishing the same goal. It seems to work for me.
 

Wapiti1

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Joined
Sep 18, 2017
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3,571
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Indiana
I have a simple supervisor/teammate relationship. If you don't bring me silly shit to deal with, I won't ask you for silly shit.

It works very well. Until a 50 year old man decides to be 5 for a little while. Then, my skills as a supervisor are tested.

Bob: I want to rearrange this random work area that is super important to me all of a sudden after 5 years of working in that area.
Me: Did you run this by Edsel and Elvis? (the guys you turn with and who have equal footing)
Bob: No
Me: Let me know how that goes. We can set up a meeting, or maybe just call them. (I don't want your monkey left in my office, I have draw odds and landowner tags to look up)
A week later.
Bob: They didn't like it, so I want you to force them to change and I'm going to play the safety card.
Me: Get these 3 reports done by Thursday.

Jeremy

P.S. I understand where you are coming from, but since you handled it, I feel it is my duty as a supervisor to poke fun at the situation. My first sentence covers about 90% of how things should work.
 

netman

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Mar 30, 2018
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Indiana
Nearly 30 years a LEO I have had about 80% of my supervisors who did not need to be in charge of anyone. The other 20% were stellar.
One of my coworkers was US Army Special Forces. He told one of our Sheriffs that he had worked for many brilliant leaders during his career. He then went on to tell the Sheriff he was the worst leader he had served under. I still laugh about that regularly.
 

FLAK

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Jan 22, 2014
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Gulf Coast
After 20 yrs.,,,I'm at THAT stage where I really don't give a phat phudge..
I just do what I can and don't worry about the rest.
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
6,389
Big corporations often ruin people. Run like small governments, paperwork takes priority over growth and increasing profits.When we hire we present the sphere of responsibility applicable to the employee's position and the goals to be attained. Then we get out of their way, providing assistance only when it is requested or obviously needed. There can be several ways to achieve a goal, the ends matters more than the means (providing ethics are applied). Generally we get more than expected. May take 3 or 6 months but they get there.

If you want to get the best out of people, don't micro manage them. Challenge them and provide them the freedom to work their way. If you interview and hire logically, your staff will work harder, smarter and longer trying to impress you. Micro managed employees watch the clock.
 
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