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How do you deal with idiot managers?

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OneOfTheseDays

Diamond Member
I've deduced over the course of a year that my manager is a complete and utter idiot. He is 9 years removed from engineering and has vague knowledge of the things we do, but speaks as if he actually knows everything. He's basically the butt of a lot of jokes around my company.

However, he is my manager and he's generally a nice guy. My problem is I love my job, but my growth and progression in the company are directly affected by him. He assigns me projects to work on and gives recommendations about whether or not I should be promoted.

I'm getting the feeling my upcoming performance review is going to be mediocre at best from what comments he's made so far. He doesn't think I'm assertive enough during meetings and my body of work is not as great compared to others on my team. The bottomline is I don't feel like that's a fair assessment of my performance in the company considering I'm 20 years younger than everyone on my team and not nearly experienced enough to start commenting about things I don't fully understand yet.

What's the best way to convey this without seeming defensive and attacking towards him? I don't want to come across as a whiny bitch basically.
 
Show him up. When I get some direction I don't agree with, I make sure it's done that way, then I do it again the better way, then let the results illustrate the point.
 
Originally posted by: binister
He is a manager for a reason.
Click to expand...

QFT.

You need to understand by now that it's how you schmooze and play the game, not what you know or how much work you do.

There was a perfect dilbert cartoon about this. Basically boss said "I assume you're stupid because you do a lot more work than I do and get paid much less."

It sounds like he's giving you sound advice. You should take it.

-edit-
How to deal? Learn from him and say you'd be honored if he could be your professional mentor.
 
Knowing what your manager thinks is key to knowing how to respond. You already know what he thinks, so that's good.

If it's true your body of work isn't as great, no sense in trying to argue that. You could talk about whether your output is commensurate with your current job level (which means you shouldn't be compared to engineers who are in higher grade positions). Try to get a clear understanding of what areas your manager thinks you need to improve in. Express your commitment to doing better. If your attitude reflects an honest desire to see where you can improve and a commitment to doing it, you shouldn't sound whiny. The key is not to argue that your boss is wrong, because that will get you nowhere.

Don't worry about a less-than-spectacular review. You are now armed with everything you need to make sure you have a good one next year, and here's how to do it.

As you complete assignments, document how your efforts show improvement in the areas you discussed. If a few months go by and you don't have any opportunity to work on certain skills, it's OK to ask for an assignment or an opportunity to work on that skill.

When your next performance review is about a month away, write up your own self-review using the same criteria and forms your boss will use. Be totally honest and admit where you have deficiencies (we all do), but also be sure to point out factually where you improved the areas discussed the previous year.

At this point, you've basically boxed him into a corner. You have the documentation to prove you have addressed the areas where he felt you needed to improve. You have done an honest self-assessment and also pointed out some areas where you still need some work. If there were certain areas pointed out this year that you were not given the opportunity to address (because of your assignments or whatever) then you can state that and mention you look forward to getting the opportunity to work on it/them in the upcoming year.

I can practically guarantee that 90% of what you wrote will find its way into your boss's writeup, because you've done most of the work for him and bosses absolutely hate doing performance reviews.
 
Originally posted by: OneOfTheseDays
Originally posted by: binister
He is a manager for a reason.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to be funny?
Click to expand...

No, I was trying to make the point spidey07 did.

How long have you been working in a professional environment? Pointing out your superior's flaws will do no good. It sounds like he is giving you good advice ("learn more", "share more"). Take it.
 
awesome post kranky

i just want to second the notion of recording actual success stories you encounter on the job. some people refer to these as PAR stories - (problem, action, result). sometimes throughout your duties, you will encounter special situations that require you to go above and beyond what is expected of someone in your position. i like to keep a few of these in the back of my mind - usually just for interview purposes, but in your case perhaps you could present a couple to your manager if you ever had the opportunity. good luck
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: binister
He is a manager for a reason.
Click to expand...

QFT.

You need to understand by now that it's how you schmooze and play the game, not what you know or how much work you do.

There was a perfect dilbert cartoon about this. Basically boss said "I assume you're stupid because you do a lot more work than I do and get paid much less."

It sounds like he's giving you sound advice. You should take it.

-edit-
How to deal? Learn from him and say you'd be honored if he could be your professional mentor.
Click to expand...

This is a great post.
 
Great advice guys. I knew that my negative thoughts were not going to lead me in the direction I wanted, I just wasn't sure how to take what he said and use it to my advantage.

 
Originally posted by: OneOfTheseDays
Great advice guys. I knew that my negative thoughts were not going to lead me in the direction I wanted, I just wasn't sure how to take what he said and use it to my advantage.
Click to expand...

Well you can spend your career trying to beat them, or you can join them.

I chose to join them and haven't looked back.
 
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