There are two common reasons why a boss might scheme unfairly against a subordinate.
First, the boss is seeking a scapegoat. The department's work hasn't been going well, perhaps, and the boss is getting the blame. He or she therefore starts to manipulate events or appearances so as to throw the blame on someone else, a subordinate. "The problems of this group aren't my fault," the boss will say or imply. "I had an excellent plan worked out to improve our performance. But the plan is being undermined. My orders are being deliberately ignored.
The second common reason for such acts by a boss is personal animosity--simple bad chemistry. Such animosity often springs from obscure sources. A subordinate being schemed against or picked on by a boss will often be utterly bewildered. "Why me?" the subordinate wails. "What did I ever do to make him treat me this way?" The answer may well be: "Relax, you didn't do anything." For it is a fact of human life that people sometimes dislike each other and cannot say why.
In the course of a normal business career you will bump against many hundreds of people. Most of these encounters will be pleasant and productive, but it is almost inevitable that you are going to meet some men and women who can't stand the sight of you, and vice versa. There is little you can do about such bad chemistry but accept it as a fact of existence, like taxes and head colds. If it happens between you and a boss, then you must work hard to escape its effects.
Here is what to do:
MENTOR: Increase your efforts to find a mentor, if you don't yet have one. You need one badly. If you do have one, increase your contact with this man or woman.
Say nothing negative about your boss ("He's always sneaking around... I think he deliberately hid that last report of mine and then claimed I'd never written it..."). Instead, simply say in uncomplaining tones that you'd like your mentor to be alert for possible new assignments for you. You might say, for example, that you feel you've learned just about all you can in your present job and would welcome a new chance to grow.
If the situation with your boss is so desperate that you feel you must mention it, do so only in neutral terms. "The chemistry isn't right. We've both worked at it, but... I don't think it's anybody's fault, it's just one of those things...
By avoiding any kind of blame-throwing, you make it easier for your mentor to offer help. Though he or she may like you a good deal, you cannot reasonably ask for backup in an assault on your boss. Your mentor, too, has a career to worry about and won't want to be drawn into a potentially bruising fight. So be careful never to let the situation take on the appearance of a fight; keep it quiet, reasonable, and nonbelligerent. This way your mentor can feel perfectly comfortable about saying, "Why, sure, I'll keep my eyes open and see what's around."
DOCUMENTATION: As far as possible, document everything you do and save the documents in a well-organized way, so that you can lay your hands on any piece of paper or floppy disk as soon as you need it.
The object of documentation is to prove, if proof is ever needed, that you have been doing your job well.
A woman whom I'll call Pat found documentation valuable a few years ago. Pat then worked in an administrative office of a television network. The department's performance was poor and its costs were unreasonably high. This inefficiency had been tolerated for years, but the boom times came to an end for the TV industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Top management wanted costs cut and productivity raised. Pressure had been put on department heads, and those who couldn't produce were being warned that they didn't have much time left to turn things around. Among those so pressured was Pat's boss, a young woman who had been promoted too fast in the boom years and now was floundering, out of her depth.
The boss needed a scapegoat, and Pat was it. Pat was the department's senior staff member. She had been there longer than anyone else, including the boss. She was the team's actual leader, if not its titular one. It was she who saw to it that the work got done.
Pat was aware of the group's poor performance and thought she saw how to improve it. However, she couldn't get her boss to okay any but trivial changes in the way things were done. The boss was too scared to risk any meaningful innovation. Moreover, she resisted doing anything for which Pat might get credit. And so the team's work continued to be substandard, and its costs stayed high. The young boss's excuse was that Pat, her second-in-command, was working against her. "Pat is jealous because I was moved in over her head," the boss would tell the executives upstairs. "She was expecting to get the top job herself. Now she's trying to make me look bad. She hardly does any work. She's away from her desk half the day, downstairs in the coffee shop, probably. And she won't follow orders. I try to make Improvements but she wants to do things the old way, it's easier."
When Pat's observer network began bringing her hints that this was going on, she began to save documents.
Her first step was to get a desk calendar-something she had never felt she needed before. In it she carefully jotted notes on her comings and goings each day.
She also tried to get documents to establish the legitimate reasons for her time away from her desk. In one case, for instance, she had to spend several mornings at an ad agency, conferring on changes in a billing system. She made friends with the secretary of one of the ad executives. At Pat's request, the secretary typed up a brief letter of thanks to Pat and had her boss sign it. The letter said plainly when Pat had been at the agency and why.
Finally, Pat adopted a practice of communicating with her young boss more often by memo, rather than orally. In her memos she continued to suggest changes in the way the department did things. She saved copies, of course. Sometimes her boss would return a memo with a handwritten rejection: "Doubt this idea would work" or "Let's wait before deciding on this." Pat saved everything.
Finally, one day things came to a head. She was called in by an older executive whom she had eyed as a possible mentor. He was grave and uncomfortable. He said, "Pat, I've got to tell you there's been some talk. Your boss tells us you're uncooperative. She also says you don't do much work. I must say I did have a hard time finding you at your desk last week..."
Pat produced her letter from the ad executive. She also showed her mentor a selection of her memos suggesting changes. She was able to document that she was not only performing her job conscientiously but was actively looking for ways to do it better. Her aim was only to hold on to her job. As it turned out, however, her self-preservation campaign succeeded better than she expected. She was promoted to department manager.
PERFORMANCE: There is one other powerful defense against a scheming boss. It may seem obvious, but I mention it because people tend to lose sight of it. It is plain old-fashioned fine job performance.
Merely doing your job well isn't enough today to guarantee your security. You must get involved in what some disdainfully call "politics." But just as it is a mistake to put too much faith in old-fashioned job performance, so it is just as much of a mistake to emphasize it too little. You aren't likely to get far on job performance alone. Nor can you succeed on "politics" or strategy alone. The effective approach is a balanced one.
So while trying to develop strategies for survival, don't let your work itself deteriorate in quality. Don't let the strategic maneuvering overwhelm the job.
Every successful business person is involved in politics to some degree. But the smartest ones are careful never to lose sight of the reasons why they are on the payroll. Strategic career planning is essential for security, but it isn't what the company pays you for. Always bear that in mind. Maintain a reasonable balance. The moment you cease earning your salary, you become vulnerable to career disaster.
