Is your colleague after your job?
By Clive Hopkins | smh.com.au | 09 February
Working in an office can be stressful at the best of times. But what if, on top of deadlines, meetings and presentations, you realise your second-in-command is after your job?
A range of strategies including raising the subject with your deputy and helping them grow their career can help.
"Everyone in middle management needs to have a succession plan," says business and executive coach Lesley Schoar. "As a boss, it's in your interest to develop your staff."
Providing staff with development opportunities frees you up as a manager to do more challenging work, or even to make a career move.
Schoar's advice to managers with a deputy nipping at their heels is to have a conversation with them about where they want to go and to take a look at their skills. Giving them leadership opportunities, such as managing a project, will show what they are made of, but it's vital to be explicit about what you are doing.
If your deputy is not yet up to the responsibilities he or she covets, Schoar believes performance reviews can help. "You need to identify what the deputy needs, in order to achieve what they want to do. Until someone gets into a management position, they're not able to see this bigger picture."
However, even with the best will in the world, things can go sour. If a deputy is actively undermining you, it's important to tell the person you are aware of what is happening and that it has to stop. As Schoar says, "this kind of thing can destroy a whole office, and it has to be nipped in the bud".
If you feel threatened by your deputy's abilities, then there's no easy answer. "You need to take a hard look at yourself - if you feel threatened, then that's your issue."
Susan Nicholson, organisational psychologist and partner with Mentors Psychology for Business, takes up theme of the practicalities of dealing with an unsupportive 2IC. "You first have to look into yourself and check that you're not overreacting. Do you lack confidence in your role? Is it threatening to you?"
If there really is a problem, such as a deputy who badmouths you to customers or other staff, or does things behind your back, Nicholson advises the following. "Always confront them directly, and always start with an 'I' as in, 'I have heard'. Starting with 'you' always puts them on the defensive, while starting with 'I' forces them to address the issue." This approach will either clear the air or, if they deny it, it will at least be a warning.
"When emotions are running high, your vision gets narrowed," Nicholson says. "You're prone to blaming and focusing on the other person's negative behaviour. You need to pull the lens back, look at yourself and your interaction with this person and the broader picture of what you need to achieve together."
Jennifer Miles* went through this experience some years ago when working as a marketing manager for a property company. She describes her assistant at the time as a "capable and creative person, with a brain and lots of potential - but at the same time difficult and demanding".
The two worked together for a year before Miles took maternity leave for four months, allowing the assistant to temporarily take on Miles's role. Reports came back to Miles that the assistant had "stepped up to the plate" and was doing the job "with gusto". But on Miles's return, as she puts it, the assistant "wouldn't let it go".
"Having experienced a senior role, she wanted to keep it. She'd held the fort very well, but in the long term there was more to that senior role than what she was doing and she found that difficult to accept."
Miles's new three-day-a-week role enabled the assistant to keep some of her new responsibilities, but Miles says "it wasn't enough for her and this became apparent immediately". Problems included always having a contrary opinion to Miles and not sharing the details of what she was doing.
After four months, the assistant applied for and got a more senior role at another firm. Miles was happy to act as her referee and was supportive and congratulatory of her move.
"It can be difficult to manage," Miles says, "but it's quite natural for people to want to progress in their careers."
"In business, you should assume that your deputy wants your job," says Bob Montgomery, president elect of the Australian Psychological Society and professor of psychology at the University of the Sunshine Coast. "It would be an unusual deputy who didn't."
But Montgomery is highly critical of what he calls the "competition myth" - the belief that to be personally successful, it's necessary to be better than other people. Moreover, he insists that whether your field is business, science, academia or the arts, co-operators always perform better than competitors.
"This is demonstrated by a range of real-world measures, whether it be salaries, positions within organisations, how often your academic work is cited or how often the music your compose is performed."
Montgomery says the competition myth is anti-motivational and if you want to enjoy personal success, the only worthwhile yardstick is yourself. "We're encouraged to hero worship people who are examples of an unbalanced lifestyle, who are obsessed with success in one area of their life. We see this with elite athletes, star politicians, prominent business people and entertainers, who eventually implode or simply burn out."
If your deputy does something better than you, Montgomery says, "Good for them! It doesn't reflect on your success. If you've got a talented deputy, then use them. Never forget that a good manager is good at delegating."
* Not her real name.
First published by Smh.com.au on February 09 2008
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