Training a direct supervisor

Question

I've been asked to train my newly hired department head, and it feels a bit like being stuck between a rock and hard place.

Basically I'm expected to train my direct superior, which occasionally requires me to tell him what needs to be done and worse still correct him when he has done it poorly...

He doesn't have any experience in this field and has little to no management experience, so I find myself in the unpleasant predicament of needing to correct him on a regular basis.

I've tried to take my concerns up the chain of command and have the higher management give corrections when needed, but they didn't what to intervene and circumvent the new manager's authority. To state the obvious it feels like every time I correct him I'm forced to circumvent his authority and possibly even be, in the long run, causing him to resent me.

What would be an appropriate way to get the new manager up to par without putting my own job at risk?

Answer 1

What would be an appropriate way to get the new manager up to par without putting my own job at risk?

Presumably someone up the management chain had enough confidence in your abilities that they assigned the task to you. For that reason, I would just train the supervisor as you would any other newbie.

But if you are still worried about that, talk with the manager who assigned the task to you. Mention that you are concerned about repercussions and your relationship with this supervisor. Then, move forward with whatever advice you are given.

You might also find a time to speak confidentially with the new supervisor and say something like "I know this must be as awkward for you as it is for me. Let me know how this training is going as we proceed, and we'll make the best of it together. I'll do everything I can to help you succeed."

I strongly suspect that you are worried about this unnecessarily.

Answer 2

Have you talked to him directly?

It is pretty unnatural for you to have to correct him on his supervision style or managerial skills, but it's not unusual for an experienced subordinate to have to teach their supervisor about the context of the work, the process and any checklists/requirements.

Have you and he talked about he feels the ramp up is going? And is he getting what he needs from you? By letting him give input into the teaching process, you let him be the boss and have a say in the flow of how he's learning things.

I've noticed there are two kinds of correction - there's correction about how and why the team does the things they do in the way they do them, and then there's correction about how to do the job of coordinating and leading the team. As a new boss - I've generally been open to feedback on the former - and a great way to give that correction your boss is not "hey boss, you did it wrong" but "hey boss, we normally do this differently... we do it like this... here's why we evolved that way...". They you're not telling him he messed up, you're giving him the right way and why it's important. If he doesn't catch the drift after a round or two of feedback about the same topic, then let it drop and let him do it his way.

For the latter (correction about how to run a team) - I'd stay out of it, and/or clarify with the person who originally gave you the assignment as to whether this was really intended. You may be able to talk about how you, personally, would prefer to communicate and collaborate, but many of the choices in this area are unique to the leader so the way the last boss did it and the way this boss does it may be very different and yet both may be right as long as the job gets done.

Answer 3

While you may have been tasked with training this person in his new capacity, as someone on a lower level than him, it seems unlikely that you would be responsible for defining the responsibilities of that position.

If you don't have enumerated responsibilities that this person is supposed to be undertaking, it will be impossible to train him anyway. For example, they can't just say "Well, John is now in charge of the Applications team." - that doesn't mean anything. Is he responsible for ensuring all that teams projects get done on time? Or is that left to the team members themselves. Is he responsible for determining what projects the team members do? Or is that left to the directors above him.

Each time you give instruction to him, it should pertain directly to one of the enumerated responsibilities. Any corrections that need to be made would be logical conclusions by comparing his new responsibilities with the actions he recently took. In this regard, the corrections are "nothing personal, strictly business".

If you don't have an explicit set of responsibilities, then you and him need to talk with his immediate supervisor and get those, and soon.