How to deal with a boss that spam calls me?
So I have a new boss who joined our team and they are a slight micro manager e.g. always asking what's on my to do list... guys sometimes we have nothing to do and we want to enjoy the calm before the storm. But this can't happen with her as she will always ask and if you say nothing she will be like "well why are you hiding twiddling your thumbs?". Which is annoying.
But the whole purpose of this post is really to get advice around one thing she does.. She calls me non stop, and stays on a call with me for hours.. to "work together" e.g. Lets say we are both WFH, at 9am my Zoom will start ringing for a video call - I panic and quickly put on a formal shirt and fix my hair then accept and there she is at 9am talking to me, and then we will sit on the Zoom for 2 hours working. Then I will normally say ok I'm going to make lunch now and we end the call.. Then a few hours later at 2pm she will start video calling me again until EOD.. or sometimes she would video call me at like 7/8pm. She even calls me when she has a work question on my holiday days off!
Sometimes I will block out my calendar to focus on a task or to just show that my calendar is busy, but she will still call and if I don't pick up the call she will say "call me when you see this". So I have to immediately call her otherwise it looks like I'm away from my desk and hiding.
Now I don't know why she does this, is it A) she's a micro manager so she can monitor my every movement to ensure I'm working and being productive and not "hiding from work" or B) perhaps it's her working style and she's a big team work player so enjoys the company of me on a call whilst she works.. maybe she is just extremely extroverted and enjoys talking /socialising or C) is it so we both can be more productive and be able to instantly ask each other questions relating to any work we're working on etc..
I'm unsure how to deal with this in a way that won't burn my relationship with her, given I report directly to her, she determines my bonus and does my performance review so I'm keen to stay on her good side but equally.. I cannot deal with all these calls constantly that last hours.
she wants u bro follow her home
Yeah she's lacking vitamin D, next time you're on a call with her on WFH day just say "well at this point might as well be face-to-face, do you want me to come over hehe" she'll take the bait like a massive tuna fish, then you land the catch and seal the deal
This is super weird....never heard anything like it.
Start calling her before she calls you. Assert dominance
that would actually be a good move. you gonna end up with her on calls anyway, might as well impress her by calling her first.
Had an analyst do this with me back when I was an intern. They're stressed you won't do the work. Next time, politely decline the call or find some bullshit excuse, and send them the work done perfectly in due time. Do this a couple of times and she will stop bothering you.
Aight bro we get it you are loved. Now stop flexing and making us jealous, and go put a ring on it...also I hope for your sake she isn't on WSO
Heard of similar things. It's because they're new and doesn't know who to trust yet. She's probably stressed because her performance relies pretty heavily on her analysts so she needs to make sure you're on top of things 24/7. Give it some time and if you do good work, it'll get better.
I think it's either:
If she is actually smart and knowledgable, then most likely 2. If she's a personality hire, then most likely 1 - she faked her way into the firm, and faking her way on the job.
That sounds exhausting. I’d try setting clear “focus blocks” on your calendar and politely explaining you need uninterrupted time for certain tasks. Keeps it professional.
If you have become this important to them then use it to your advantage. Keep the calls going but schedule them in advance with specific criteria in mind. Just be careful not to overdo it, goal is promotions and bonuses, not being a pushover.
Similar thing happened to me as a first year consultant last year.
I dealt with an Engagement Manager like this in my consulting firm. Ended up accidentally cursing him out thinking I was on mute on an internal call for a hellish project I was on with him (thankfully, I don't think he ever told the senior partners on our team about this). He's been micromanaging me less since. I straight up quiet quit on the project and he doesn't really bother me anymore since we successfully finished the project.
Somehow I still got a good year end review a few weeks after that lol. Got aligned with a few other Engagement Managers & Partners that I much prefer working with lately and life's been a lot better (hating my job less, still hate it though).
Smash. next question
This is why we need women out of the workplace 😂
The only way to beat a crazy person is to make them think you’re crazier - one up them for a bit and I bet they’ll piss off
first problem - "she." new boss required speaking from exp
Try to sleep with her...no matter the outcome it will solve your problem of her constantly calling you.
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just say you would be focus better working alone
I worked with a middle manager like this and ended up despising the person. I had zero personal space and tried to get staffed on other deals, which then became an issue because the person would be insulted when I worked on other things and then act retaliatory towards me. It was a really toxic situation.
This person is a micromanager and I've observed this type of behavior from middle managers that are relatively "younger" for their given title. Its theatric managing for optics due to innate insecurities - the person is just inept at managing & leading people. If you dug into and connected with juniors she worked with at her last employer, I'd venture that you'd find a number of people who dislike her or quit under her tutelage.
Navigate it carefully or leave. Sorry.
I worked at a rating agency and there was a senior ratings person that was extremely inefficient with their work, and had a habit of calling you and making you be on the same zoom call as them. Most of the time you were watching them write in word/make calculations in excel that would take you 1/10th of the time. It was extremely painful. Many times they would completely change their mind about the approach and make you watch them redo their work, while you wondered wtf is going on... Fortunately, I had developed a strong reputation on the team and started being more assertive about dropping from these calls.
My advice:
Overall, the best way out of this situation is 1) Communicate well with said person and get to know them (befriend them and try and get them to trust you), ask about their concerns, ask about their actions (in a political way), 2) Have a good reputation on the team so other seniors side with you
just do it!
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