Incompetant Supervisor
Incompetant Supervisor
(OP)
My supervisor is completely and utterly incompetent. Literally, he is not capable of managing the engineering department (about ~10 people under him). He is not organized, not in touch with any of the projects going on, and screws up nearly everything he does touch. Finally, he is not capable of listening and comprehending. He was appointed the position he is currently in, because there was no one else available to take the job, he did not ask for it.
What am I supposed to do? He literally does NOT do his job. He does other things related to engineering, but is not a leader, nor a manager. He does not realize that he is responsible for the successes of the department, and instead of taking blame for his engineers failures, merely deflects the blame to the employee who made the mistake. I'm considering expressing my worries to his boss (one of the higher ups of the small company.)
Please help. I know I'm not the first person to have a boss that was so incapable of managing. I wont be doing anything before the two week shut down at the end of December, but I would love to have a plan going into next year.
What am I supposed to do? He literally does NOT do his job. He does other things related to engineering, but is not a leader, nor a manager. He does not realize that he is responsible for the successes of the department, and instead of taking blame for his engineers failures, merely deflects the blame to the employee who made the mistake. I'm considering expressing my worries to his boss (one of the higher ups of the small company.)
Please help. I know I'm not the first person to have a boss that was so incapable of managing. I wont be doing anything before the two week shut down at the end of December, but I would love to have a plan going into next year.





RE: Incompetant Supervisor
Maui
www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
More likely he was appointed because the bosses thought that he was the best qualified for the job.
Think about ALL the implications of that.
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Incompetant Supervisor
Seriously, though, unless the situation is unbearable for you in the interim, my advice would be to let some more time pass while keeping your own performance on track.
The truth always comes out.
Failing that, offer to be his right-hand person, under the guise of "...to take some of the leg-work off you...". There is an opportunity for self-promotion here, and you will be in a great position to take the job he currently occupies if the incompetence continues. On the other hand, if the incompetence is cured and you had a hand in meeting that objective, everyone wins.
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
I've brought up problems to him to his face, suggested solutions to problems in department meetings.
I even made him a Gantt Chart to try and help him realize what was going on. I feel disheartened that all my extra effort is always for nothing.
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
I have thought of that. And it scares the crap out of me.
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Greg...exactly!
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Buy and read the book I am listing here. It may not help, but it will make you feel better.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
I will however continue to express my concerns to my supervisor, while documenting every conversation I have with him. If he ever claims I didn't inform him of something, I'll have proof I did and was ignored.
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
The OP states that the boss deflects blame to the person who has done it wrong. Again my opinion is:
1. why should the person who did it wrong not have to take responsibility?;
2. how do you know that the boss has not been hauled over the coals by his bosses?;
3. (slightly off topic for the list) what training has the boss had to be a leader? what support is the boss getting? (it sure aint coming from people complaining on forums)
I feel that there is a complete lack of empathy (or is it sympathy?) for supervisors. And people would do far better to remember that you can only control things in your sphere of influence (ie you can only change the way that you react) and you can only truthfully comment on what you know is true (not what you think is true).
I see that Frusso's previous post is titled "Dealing with studid" I suggest he rereads that and then heeds the advice given by Facs, Ctopher, Msquared and IR Stuff (and others).
Thanks for reading
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
Before I got my promotion, I had many of the same frustrations you have - actually I still do! Tickle has a good point about controling what you can control. Make sure you are a proper leader of what you control, even if it is just individual calculations. No action is too small to "plan the work and work the plan".
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Rule #2: If the boss is ever wrong, see Rule #1.
There are certain things you can do to help your boss do his job better and most should be done in private, not group meetings. Is he trying and just in over his head or truly a screw up? Either way his boss will realize the mistake and either replace him (screw-up) or try to help him (in over his head). As an underling, you are limited to what you can do, but helping him to do a better job can be done as long as the other peers don't perceive you as the department brown nose.
I had a boss one time that kept changing the direction of our project. He worked in another building and we staff used to joke about the changes in direction. We eventually got a new boss and since the old manager was a manager, the company did not demote him, but made him a manager of special projects with no one reporting to him.
Another boss had 2 titles. In his position of one, he wrote a report saying that what I did was not following the rules of his oversight responsibilities. I went into his office for a one to one and told him that the report made his other depoartment look bad by saying we didn't know what we were doing. He really had not thought it through that he was complaining about the people that worked for him. Luckily I was already in the middle of looking for another job which I took about a month later.
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
RE: Incompetant Supervisor
That is something that leaders don't do. Leaders take the blame and then settle whatever else needs to be settled off line with whoever is involved.
GOOD leaders find ways that contribute towards an environment in which people spend 70% or more of their time doing their best not to commit any "blame-able" mistakes, and the other 30% or less of their time fixing mistakes instead of looking for who to blame.
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I think the other engineers that see this would be supportive and not try to constantly critisize. I think the problem is you either accept what is happening or move on, makes life easy for everyone.
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One thing that most people fail to realize is how few good managers there really are, at any level of an organization. The fact that most new businesses fail gives one some indication of how difficult it is to run an organization well, since it requires a confluence of talent, desire, opportunity. etc. Even once a business has been well established, mistakes can bring down previously unassailable companies; Montgomery Ward, JC Penney, Sears, Research in Motion, etc., come to mind.
TTFN

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RE: Incompetant Supervisor
You may have a fiduciary responsibility to report certain decisions your boss is making to higher ups or even the board of engineers if we are talking about signed and sealed reports or drawings, or any decision that involves public safety and welfare. Also, if his decisions mainly are poor economic ones, then his boss would want to know that and may not like it if the employees are aware of this and not saying anything.
Engineering incompetence can go way beyond a Dilbert comic strip. Things fall down and explode and people die in engineering mistakes....
Maybe it was because I could not sleep last night and was watching Platoon, and Charlie Sheen's character, despite being a young greenhorn, is a moral voice of reason in his troubled troop.
Sorry, too heavy for Friday?
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2. I have seen several situations of "promotion into incompetency". Excellent technical, crap managerial....It happens.
Historically, it seems companies reward with promotion and money instead of money in the same role. I would be quite happy being "value added and rewarded" in a role which I actually like, and feel competent.
RE: Incompetant Supervisor