My boss keeps going to my staff to ask for stuff. I’m good at managing my team, very experienced and very well regarded. But I suck at managing up and I don’t really know how to tell my boss to bring this stuff to me and let me distribute and manage team.
Not sure if this is germane but my boss is much younger than I am. Not sure if that matters - but mentioning because I’m Gen x and he’s millennial. Sometimes that makes a difference at work.
Boss is a good guy, he’s smart and works hard and looks out for our team. I like working for him. But he keeps doing this going one or two steps down the org chart to ask for stuff.
Any ideas of what to say? Idk, maybe it’s not a big deal.
I’m told that I look a lot like Vince Vaughn. The young skinny version of course. The Godfather, not so much. But I like the way you think!
People probably recognize your boss do this and start to get the feeling your main role is to make it so your boss has to do less performance reviews.
If you care I'd say something to your boss, politely (something like you are most effective when you are totally in the loop on everyone on the team's workloads, etc - so at least ask if he wouldn't mind copying you on the requests - this way you can insert yourself into the decision making process if you know someone better on the team to help out - or even do it yourself), if you don't care and are more about self preservation (and no judgment here) just let it go and do your job best you can.
You say your boss is smart, so let's assume he has a reason for not using the chain of command.
Perhaps he is more comfortable dealing with your subordinates because he has known them longer than he knows you, or feels closer to them for personal or social reasons. No, then,
Perhaps he is in a hurry and wants to get it done quicker than going through the chain of command. No, then,
Perhaps there are some subtle nuances in the way he wants certain things done and feels that he needs to explain what he wants done personally or it will get lost in translation. No, then
Perhaps you need to reexamine your own status. Does he have a problem with you, or how, or to whom you delegate tasks?
My old boss was terrifically smart and was always great to me, but he did not manage well. He would never take advice from a subordinate about anything, including his management style. Finally, HIS boss replaced him with a better manager.
Good luck changing your boss's management style.
something in a different manner. Some younger guys do not let their previous job go and feel if they don't put their two cents in, they aren't doing their job.
Do you have 1 on 1 with your boss? Then maybe say something like
We have a great team and the team is willing to jump through hoops to get things done. Some of the team members have come to me about prioritization of assignments. We have them working on our strategy and have you noticed that sometimes you go directly to the team member. Is there any way I can help so we can make communication more effective and our team members can focus on the priorities? I like that you engage with the team thus how can we do it more effectively?
Something like that might go a long away. Personally I like to say something so it does not fester -- think about it as a win win
The thing that set me off today was this: I just onboarded a new engineer today who reports to my direct report who is a Sr. Manager. So my boss sends this long email to the new guy all about how he wants things done on an important engineering project. So my boss is jumping two steps down the CoC. Meanwhile, I’m working on this guy’s 30, 60, 90 plan which my VP already signed off on.
Idk... happy to be working, I really am. But this isn’t really ideal.
Also to your OP - you called yourself well-regarded. I said that about myself in a self assessment year-end once.... my boss called me out on it. It resonated since we can all always improve. How do I/ you know? It’s a potential blind spot and probably a reach. Best of luck.