Team member gave himself a new job title

Question

A team member gave himself a new job title in his mail signature and asked for new business cards. I was the team lead and moving out of this position at this moment. I can leave it to my replacement, but the issue really bothers me and I want to support the new lead in resolving this issue.

What we tried: address the issue in a private conversation.

Result: He feels like it describes what he is doing and refuses to change it.

What we tried: Talked to the CEO about it.

Result: He wants to address it after an important project is finished to not ruin the "momentum" so close to the the deadline.

My issue with this is that the longer the self-assigned job title stands, the more accepted it will become by co-workers and clients.

How can I address this without undercutting, but rather supporting the new lead and resolve it without firing people?

Answer 1

What we tried: Talked to the CEO about it.

Result: He want's to address it after an important project is finished to not ruin the "drive" so close to the the deadline.

That's it, you took it all the way up to your CEO, and if your CEO is not bothered now, you really cannot do anything about this.

As your capacity as a lead:

• you spotted the issue
• you discussed about the issue with the concerned employee
• you escalated to the CEO

I'd say, you have done your job well. Nothing more is expected of you, as of now.

One small additional thing you can consider doing, along-with the CEO, you can also make the HR aware of the situation. Other than that, as mentioned by CEO, you need to "wait" till your CEO wants to make progress on this.

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That said:

How can I address this without undercutting but rather supporting the new lead and resolve it without firing people?

I'd say, this is reason enough to fire people. If, after making a mistake and given a chance to correct oneself, they refuse to listen, I'd say, it's straightway

• non-compliance with company policies
• insubordination

which are reason enough to get rid of them.

Answer 2

A team member gave himself a new job title in his mail signature and asked for new business cards.

What you have here is a team member using someone else's title in his email signature and asking for updated business cards to reflect that stolen title. While I agree that is definitely issue, but it seems too granular for a CEO to care about. I am not surprised by the CEO's answer, because a CEO is more concerned with overall company strategy and vision and not so much on problematic individual contributors.

How can I address this without undercutting but rather supporting the new lead and resolve it without firing people?

I would announce the new Team Lead's title change formally in an email to the organization and/or company and support that by bringing up the Team Lead's new position in meetings. Essentially, make it clear who is the actual Team Lead. I also recommend declining impostor's request for new business cards with the false title.

Document each time you asked the impostor to cease representing himself with the false title and decision making ability. Just make it as awkward as possible for the impostor to keep this up and any reasonable person should stop or leave the company of their own will. But if the impostor continues doing these things, I would have no choice but to fire impostor.