My New Boss Thinks My Team Is Great. They Aren’t.
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
The situation is that someone took over a C suite role with a firm from his boss who held it temporarily. His boss thinks the people are terrific. They are good, not great. How do I handle this with him?
00:00 Introduction
0032 The situation
01:16 The answer
02:12 Outro
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A C suite professional described a situation they were stepping into and was looking for some advice
I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. People hire me for no BS career advice and coaching globally, because I make things so much easier for folks related to job search, hiring more effectively managing and leading better, workplace issues of one form or another and even more. Here’s the scenario.
They just took over a function within a firm. In this situation, their boss had been in his seat previously, and went back to his primary role, leaving him to inherit the team. In examining the people on his team, they’re good, but they’re not great. And his boss has been raving about the people, but they don’t really . . .he doesn’t really do what my coaching client does. So he has a limited perspective. And thus, here’s the situation. They’re good. And they can do better. And how do you handle it?
And the answer was pretty simple. You know, when his boss says to him, “So what do you think,” you say, “They are good, they’re really good. And I think I can help them be great. And I think the work we need them to do can be even better.”
Notice the phrase “even better.” “Thus, you know, work with me on this. I want to help them elevate their game so they do great work, not good work. Are you okay with that?”
Now, what he’ll learn at that point is whether his boss just really cares about getting the slop out the door or doing great work. He was told about great work on the way in, not about slop. So this is where the rubber hits the road for him, and he learns about how his boss really wants him to do the job.
Hope you found this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. Visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a ton more in the blog to help you. And if you have you have a situation, you can schedule time for what I call a trusted advisor services, where I take questions and answer scenarios from people. I do this in a half hour’s time, as I did with this person. I’d love to help you.
Also connect with me on LinkedIn at Linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. By the way, at the website, there’s a ton on the blog, and you could find out about my video courses, books and guides. Have a terrific day and be great!
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ career easier. Those things
can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2600 episodes.
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One of the worst situations to find yourself in is a well established team getting a first-time manager foisted on them. Double so if he came from an area that knows little to nothing of the needed skill set. Triple so if there’s an internal reshuffle and a first-time manager with zero experience from another area now own multiple teams. Quadruple so if there’s an us-vs-them internal team dynamic.
Also, a movement up of a manager means promoting up of employees. If one boss is replaced by another it means never expect upwards mobility. Too many times I’ve witnessed Teamicide because of this
The boss knows little. The person I referred to is very knowledgeable and very experienced. He needs to get hit in for not doing “good enough” work. I know you know what I mean by that.