How do I get my boss to spend more time with me and less time with my direct reports?

Question

My boss has many direct reports. He has so many, that our one-on-one meetings are only every other week. As it turns out, he's not only meeting with his direct reports, but select individuals throughout the company. None of this is improper - I support these skip level meetings - but it's been causing some issues.

Two of my direct reports have these regular bi-weekly skip-level one-on-one meetings with my boss. They will frequently save their issues to raise with him instead of raising them with me, just because they talk with him next and know that I am likely to take those issues to him. As a result, I am often left out of the loop in things that directly affect my space and my own ability to assist my direct reports simply because my boss is too available to them.

Conversely, because he spends so much time with my directs, he meets with me too infrequently for me to properly raise issues from my other direct reports. He's not micromanaging, but his actions have the effect of undermining my ability to properly serve my own leadership team within my space.

I will frequently hear "well I talked this over with [my boss] and he told me to do XYZ" from my folks. The direction they get often lacks the benefit of context of our space that I have a better grasp of than my boss. Without me hearing my boss' thoughts on their concerns myself, I both lack the understanding of what led to those conclusions and miss the opportunity to better collaborate with him toward an ideal solution.

How can I raise this issue to my boss in a way that shows him the impact of his actions, and hopefully increase the frequency of our one-on-one time to better account for the issues of my entire team, and not just those people he holds skip-levels with?

Answer 1

Your Direct Reports need to Understand what Skip Meetings are for.

So, if I understand this correctly, the people under you are going to the guy above you to make department level decisions instead of to you directly. Most rank-and-file employees don't really know what a "skip meeting" is, they just know they are going into their bosses' office to talk every now and then. So, to them, it is very natural to assume this is the time to bring up problems that they need management to fix.

However, as a manager under someone who is doing skip meetings, this is the last thing you want to happen. If you go to your boss asking him to stop solving your direct reports problems, then you may dig yourself into an office politics hole you don't see coming. Skip meetings are supposed to be so that your boss knows how you and your department is doing, and if they keep coming to him with problems to solve, it looks like you have a problem rich department that you are not managing. You need to make it clear to the people under you that you are their direct supervisor, and that department level problems that need fixing should go through you first and foremost.

In response to a similar answer, you said:

... the question is how to raise this concern with my boss, not how to relate this concern to my reports, which I do. They simply can't say "no" when my boss asks them questions, nor would I tell them to refuse meeting with him. There is a balance I'm trying to strike, and I don't believe asking this of them achieves that balance.

It sounds to me that you've related your concerns to your direct reports, but not placed any real guidelines for them to follow.

Training them to follow a chain of command is not the same as asking them to ignore the questions of your superior. In a skip meeting, they should not be telling your boss there is a problem, they should be telling your boss they reported a problem to you X days ago, and letting him know how well that problem is being handled. They need to know that if they have a problem and have not raised it with you first, that it looks bad on you for not addressing it, it looks bad on them for not following a chain of command, and it looks bad on your department for coming to the boss with a train of problems and no solutions.

Only if your direct reports are given clear expectations, and they continue to ignore chain of command, should you bring it up to your boss, but you should be clear that you are asking for help getting them understand the chain of command and to bring problems to you first, and not that you are asking him to be more hands-off.

Answer 2

They will frequently save their issues to raise with him instead of raising them with me

You asked about your boss not meeting frequently with you, but I think this is another very important issue (and one where you actually have more influence, instead of telling your boss to change the way they are).

If your direct reports do not bring things with you then you will be left out of the loop as you well said, and that will derive on things like your boss calling shots that you should be calling, or even your boss perceiving that you don't follow up with your reports.

I suggest that you bring this matter up with such reports, and politely indicate them to bring things with you first to avoid inefficient communication and back-and-forth situations.

Answer 3

How can I raise this issue to my boss in a way that shows him the impact of his actions, and hopefully increase the frequency of our one-on-one time to better account for the issues of my entire team, and not just those people he holds skip-levels with?

The question raised seems to bypass, but maybe implies, an important preliminary consideration of "Should I even raise this issue to my boss?". Which is directly related to your question.

Anything and everything can be considered contentious by almost everyone so generally speaking it is a good idea to observe and discern how those that report to you and you report to perceive things, how they believe things and how they have responded to similar scenarios as what you are facing.

If you have a boss who is secure in themselves and values feedback and takes constructive criticism with vigor, understanding that it all benefits improvement, then maybe the soil is fertile for a healthy, candid and open exchange with them...all with the greater good as the intent.

If you have a boss who has reacted negatively to feedback from others, is maybe a bit arrogant, or sees feedback as rocking the boat or in any other negative light...raising the issues with them directly, even with your best intentions and sole desire to make the team and business better, may not be received well and could even damage your own standing.

If by your discernment you believe that you have a favorable environment for this exchange, then the how is rather simple in my opinion. Set a time for uninterrupted dialogue, affirm appreciation for the boss' interaction, speak clearly on your issues and raise them as questions stating you are looking for their help on resolution.

For example "I am trying to figure out how to address information gaps that are occurring between meetings I am having and meetings you are having with some of our team. I feel responsible to the whole team and to you in exceeding your expectations and I think these information gaps are having an impact on my performance to that end. (give a scenario here i.e. Bob let me know he had asked you this item not related to career guidance and he went and implemented it, but it caused this and this which cost us this for the rest of the team who were working on it already in x fashion).

As another observation on your scenario. Your boss should recognize that they hired you to handle what you handle. It is your sandbox. If there is going to be a mix of authority and responsibility, it should be crystal clear where the lines are (to the extent possible) in order to avoid conflicts and issues like the one's you address.

Good luck on resolving the issues.

Answer 4

The direction they get often lacks the benefit of context of our space that I have a better grasp of than my boss. Without me hearing my boss' thoughts on their concerns myself, I both lack the understanding of what led to those conclusions

Why not go to your boss with 2-3 data points where he was wrong because he doesn't know the full context --Its best if you can show how it impacted the customer? or your own production systems.

Once you are able to make this through, you can then tell him how his actions are creating confusion and trivializing your role. Also, you can use these incidents as examples in your future one-one meetings with him.

Answer 5

Some Level of ByPassing Direct Reports To Go Down Is Necessary and Desirable

I put this point first because its the most important one. Talking only to direct reports put all power in their hands. Thats a very bad way to run any organization, department or section. Consider a prime minister talking only to his cabinet members (his ministers), a CEO talking to only other Cs etc. How would he know when he is lied to?

Here is a delicate point, a line one should not pass when bypassing direct reports, it is to not do the job of the direct reports, do only what is left. For example, listen to grievances against their immediate boss, requests that are not in power of their direct boss etc.

Mention Somewhere When You Next Talk To Him, Subtly If You Cannot Directly, That He is Doing Your Job

You are not doing your job of handling your direct subordinates for free. If he is doing your job for you then he is doing a favour to you. Just mention it to him when you next talk to him. If he is okay with you then go along with it.

If You Want Him To Stop This Behavior Then Do This

Again, be very sure before you proceed. Very sure that you are not okay with your workload getting reduced. If your workload is not reduced and he is simply doing what I said he should in my first point at top then obviously dont do anything.

The way to stop someone doing something if he not stop when you complain about it is to use force. There is no other way. You have to put some kind of pressure.

Have your other services strong. Remove any shortcomings from any other services you are providing. This will make you very important for him to not loose as an employee. Then with your bases covered stop doing duplicate work. Managing an employee is a function. Proper way is to have a direct manager on them to do this. If your boss is happy doing the function himself then cut the duplicate effort. Stop managing the employees yourself as well. They need to be managed and they are managed, no need for you to re-manage them. When your boss ask just tell him the fact that he is doing the managerial function himself.

Again, do it only if he is doing a large portion of your work. If he is talking directly to only one or two employees dont do this. If he is doing something other than your job then also dont do this.