So my boss doesn’t have a set way to manage, she has a team of six, and sometimes she manages vertically, and sometimes she asks us to manage horizontally ... and I’m struggling to get to her to understand that you can’t ask peers to manage other peers because they have their own styles

Any guidance on how really drive that home? Because more and more she’s saying that it’s the lack of communication between us (peers) and I definitely just see it as, people have completely different working styles, and some of the problems that she’s bringing up aren’t a matter of communication but they’re fundamental to another person’s manner of work

For context. My coworkers keep doing this thing where they commit to a project in a quarter of a time, then when they exceed the unreasonable deadline and people start complaining about it they then end up pulling the rest of us as help and I think if they did a better job of level setting initially then they could have better communication and less pressure from their downstream

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

You gave a great example.


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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

She thinks it's a problem with communication.
But I disagree.
So with our coworker that’s a perfectionist, she wants us to work with him to understand that 75% of what’s needed is good for the conversation we’re about to get into ... and I don’t think you can do that with peers because dude isn't gonna change his working style because a peer disagreed.
In her world view it's my job to convince him differently.

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

aka - i dont care how it gets done between you all, just do it.

First thing is for you to get/read this book called Radical Candor. It changed the way i manage people, as well as give and receive feedback from those that report to me, and people I report to. It will really give you a good framework on how to approach these kinds of conversations in the workplace..

cuz ultimately, she's right about one thing: communication.

You have to find a way to ask for what you need from her as a manager in a way that makes her want to give it to you.

You also need to find a way to communicate to your team in a way that inspires them to want to work together well.

2nd, There's this concept that you may find useful...its called "launching" a team...its an intentional process you go through, either formally or informally, where you set the parameters with your team around how you're going to communicate with each other, divide work tasks, measure success, and know when you're finished.

This may be a mechanism to work better with your colleagues even if your manager isn't setting clear direction.

Again, communicating this is tricky cuz you're not their boss and you don't want to come off like you know shit and they don't.

I hope this was a little bit helpful.

d

department moved to an agile structure. I manage a team of consultants, so we aren't a development team, but we adopted the same type of agile structure and cadence that the development staff from our company use.

For my first few years in management I had a team of 25-30 direct reports which was too much for me to really balance everything. I had too many staff to get into the weeds with individuals, which meant I had to delegate projects for people to lead without us actually having a structure to support horizontal management.

With the move to agile now I have three squads that report to me, each with their own squad leader (which is a rotating role). Each squad has 6-10 staff, so they are essentially their own mini-teams. I work with the squad leaders on defining sprint goals, and the squads work with each other on assigning tasks, reporting out on progress, reviewing their work, giving each other feedback, etc. I still have a large number of directs, but I can be way less hands on now, and they all feel much more empowered.

it IS a communication problem.

It's her.

You're clearly communicating what the issue is, and she's telling you it's something else?

My manager is rarely wrong either.

I just moved my desk to a hidden part of the office.

It's hard punching upward alone, which is basically how I see it.

You're gonna need more people. and maybe an email or two.

IG: amadu_me

"...Whateva, man..." (c) Redman