what have your experiences been like with boss changes?

[nageov3t]

just got word this weekend that my boss put in his 2-week notice and will be out by March makes me sad because he's the guy that recruited me and I've always felt 100% secure in my job with him as my boss (despite the fact that I'm more of a workhorse than a technical guru).

but I'm also obsessing over it because the last time I had a boss change, it was a mess. the guy came in and seemed to purposefully alienate/piss off all of the long-timers until they all either quit or moved departments within the company until he basically had a 100% newly-hired staff.

and, of course, there's good old fashioned administrative stuff like the scheduling promises that my current boss made to me that a new boss will probably chuck out the window (when I joined my new department, I agreed to work every saturday+sunday on a temporary basis... "temporary" has been extended to almost 2 years now, but in my yearly review, my boss made an oral promise to me that the next hire would be taking over my Saturday shift)

 

[nanette1985]

I feel for you. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

Where's your current boss going? Any way to keep in touch with him in case things don't work out?

 

[IronWing]

I seen 'em come, I seen 'em go, and I seen 'em die...

Seven bosses in ten years.

 

[nageov3t]

I feel for you. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

Where's your current boss going? Any way to keep in touch with him in case things don't work out?

didn't think to ask, but he lives on the other side of the country so it doesn't seem like it'd be ripe for networking opportunities.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Try to keep in contact regardless? Better than nothing I would suppose.

 

[rcpratt]

I dunno, my first new boss is arriving a week from Monday. Old boss took a temporary assignment. We got along really well and she was the one that hired me, so I'm sad to see her kind of go.

 

[reitz]

The sudden change happened to me once: I went from a reasonable, mostly-knew-her-stuff boss to a new guy just promoted to management and without any training or experience to back it up. The first year sucked pretty bad, but then he started to figure things out, and we figured out that he didn't work very hard (nor did he expect us to work very hard). After that, work was OK for a while until I got bored (stretching 8 hours of work over 40 hours is fun at first, but after a short while it gets old).

The last (and I do mean *last*) boss change was due to moving jobs. I moved from working for a guy who was decent, respectful, and worked with his team to get shit done, retarded corporate BS rules be damned; to a batshit crazy, promoted-beyond-her-level-of-competence corporate stooge. I suffered for two years under that lunatic...by the end, walking off my job with no notice while on a business trip in a foreign country made much more sense than working another day for her.

On the plus side, she forced me out of the corporate world. I'm not sure I'd have been able to pull the trigger if I'd kept working for reasonable and/or easy bosses. That nut pushed me over the edge, and I and my family are much happier for it.

 

[moshquerade]

boss changes... it's a crap shoot.

 

[Chaotic42]

A good boss doesn't rock the boat immediately unless there is some horrible problem. He or she will just slide in, learn the job, learn the people, and if things were working before, they'll keep working.

My old boss got promoted and we got a new guy in. He's cool as hell and just wants the job done correctly and on/under budget. He has no desire to ride anyone's ass or "prove" himself and try to get promoted immediately. Great dude.

 

[ultimatebob]

I've found that new bosses are normally fairly nice to their employees for the first few weeks. It makes sense for them to be, as they're somewhat dependent on their new employees to teach them the new position.

After that, it's a crap shoot. They can stay friendly, or turn into total assholes.

Are you going to get a chance to interview candidates for the new position? It would be nice if you got a chance to talk to these people first, just to give you a chance warn upper management if you can tell that someone is worthless.

 

[JJChicken]

It's a hit or miss.

Now, they will normally see things differently to how you do. They will probably disagree with current practices and try and get you to challenge the "that's just the way it is around here" mentality. Best for you to listen to them and try and implement the recommendations they make. Bosses are typically good if you are on their side.

Good luck.

 

[Kadarin]

At my last job, we were a case where a smaller company was purchased by a larger entity. At some point, they replaced my boss with a guy who came in from the parent company, and unfortunately he came in with the parent company attitude and culture both in full force, and that didn't really sit well with our group. I learned that he was in the process of attempting to force me out at about the same time I had decided to leave the company anyway for a better job.

 

[lxskllr]

Change is bad. Having a positive outcome from change is like winning the lottery. Good luck.

 

[spaceman]

i was ever on the fence
somedays i was fine with judith ligght
others with tony danza

 

[Jadow]

I've had 7 bosses in 9 years at my company.

I've had some trepidation over each change, and they each had a little different style, some more hands on, some more hands off, but they've all been decent bosses at worst, excellent bosses at best and it's been fine. As long as you're doing a good job, you'll be fine.

 

[nageov3t]

thanks for the words

we currently know almost nothing about what the future holds, so for all I know, the new boss could be coming internally (either from a promotion within the department or bringing someone else in from another department).

guess all I can do is continue what I've been doing and emphasize to whoever the new guy is that I'm 100% open to any changes (because there's definitely a lot of that "we do things this way because we've always done them that way" entrenchment)... hopefully it doesn't come across like I'm whining and bitching if I bring up scheduling issues, but I'd hate to encourage the idea that I'm working a shit schedule by choice when I've already had one break-up over it.

 

[TXHokie]

One of the best boss I ever had was one that was completely hands off, gave me little direction on how to do my work, and deflect the heat from upper management when push come to shove. We had an understanding that I do my work well and make him and the team look good and in return we all get rewarded at review time. I followed him to three different jobs and haven't really worked for anyone like him since. One time he got fired for standing up to upper management and his replacement was a "yes man" and that sucked. I only lasted 3 mos before walking off the job to go do a consulting gig. To me, the people you work for and work with makes the job. I would never last working for a "yes man" that doesn't stand up for his own people. I'd also like to work for someone smarter than me or someone that can navigate the corporate politics better than I can (that's why I'm not in management). If I don't see that, good chance I'm outta there before long. Work already sucks in general, why make it worse having to deal with people that sucks. You're in control of your own destiny. Good luck with new boss.

 

[sjwaste]

It's hit or miss. I had one that was a disaster. Things just did not go well with that individual. I ended up leaving - the new person was a micromanager, and not very good as an analyst. A really bad combo if one is going to micromanage is to also not really understand the work at the "micro" level. Luckily, a better opportunity came along.

The next position, my boss was rotated internally to another position. He was on the exec track. Best boss I ever had. Intelligent, but just let people solve problems and didn't impose his way unless you were just completely wrong. Learned a lot. One day I was walking out of the office with a VP (his boss), and he said to me, "It's a little unfair. You're just starting your career and you currently work for what might be the best boss you'll ever have." referring to my current boss. It was true, and the person that replaced him was a nice person, but the team just never really bought into what they were doing. I had rotated internally to another department since I had been in that position for 2 years and the company encouraged growth by moving around, but I supported my old team for a year after since I was the technical expert. From what I can tell, once the group got over the personality differences between the old boss and the new, the transition was fine.

In consulting, later down the road, changing managers was just the way it was. The firm hired and promoted very competent people, so other than a potential personality conflict (and it was common, given that the firm mostly recruited alpha types), things went smoothly. I hope that my colleagues would say I was pretty good when I got promoted into a lead role.

It really has a lot to do with how you work, how your boss manages, and how different the new person is. It's almost always a change management issue, unless they hired a really bad replacement, which odds are, didn't happen. You just need to be accommodating during the transition period, because even if the person isn't generally a micromanager, they're going to be in your shit for the first couple of months to learn the functions, how the work gets done, etc. A good manager has to come in and absorb, and be willing to do a lot of listening. Your end of the bargain is to help with that. Build a decent professional relationship there, and your voice will be heard when things smooth out as to how engaged you need your boss to be.

It's definitely a two way street, and believe it or not, just because you're being "inconvenienced" by the whole changing of the guard, doesn't mean you don't have a role in it. It's also an opportunity to change some of the old ways, if they weren't the best way to do things.

In other words, my advice to you is to wait and see. Don't make the potential of a management change your reason for leaving, but if it doesn't go well or a better opportunity happens to come along, consider a change. It doesn't have to go poorly.

EDIT: Holy shit. What a long post. TL;DR. Cliffs - ????

 

[gophins72]

To me, the people you work for and work with makes the job. I would never last working for a "yes man" that doesn't stand up for his own people. I'd also like to work for someone smarter than me or someone that can navigate the corporate politics better than I can (that's why I'm not in management). If I don't see that, good chance I'm outta there before long. Work already sucks in general, why make it worse having to deal with people that sucks. You're in control of your own destiny. Good luck with new boss.

best advice so far.

 

[tfinch2]

i was ever on the fence
somedays i was fine with judith ligght
others with tony danza

lulz

Great troll post or greatest troll post?