Q: Rock, my new manager just got fired, and now those of us in his department are afraid we’re going to be let go, too. When the new manager came in, he made a lot of noise and shuffled around a lot of papers. He seemed like he was working hard. One of the first things he asked us to do was to review our job descriptions and update them with how we do our job currently. Made sense.

He also wanted to know which parts of our jobs we like doing the best. After about a month, lots of old documents that had been put to rest started resurfacing. These were projects that we had decided for one reason or another were not a good idea.

He started passing out these old projects like playing cards and asking us to finish them. And, oh, could we finish them in the next month or two? Without context to the original thinking, and without any ownership or access to other needed elements in the project, it was difficult to understand how to even get started with these projects, let alone how to make them successful. Everything we did and everything we needed from the company had to pass through him. He would rephrase our questions to other departments and put his own spin on it. We couldn’t get the answers we needed, and we could not understand why he was trying to control our communications.

After a few more months he started getting enraged that we were not finishing the projects that he’d passed out to us. We were trying to finish our regular work while getting up to speed with a new manager, and these monkey-on-our-back projects really were throwing us off our game.

Well, last week we had a company-wide meeting, and it was pretty clear that our manager was not well favored by the ownership. A ripple of nervousness went through us as we realized that everything we did in our department was being portrayed by someone who had no clue about us – and that person had only his self interest in mind. He had made promises to his bosses about these projects, which he called deliverables. We had no idea! He had painted us as being stubborn and unwilling, not team players, and unable to finish the easiest of tasks.

A bunch of us went out for lunch after that meeting and made a quick game plan, which was to bypass our manager and try to talk to one of the vice presidents and explain the situation. Yesterday our manager was fired. We have not reached out to the vice president yet because we are trying to get the timing right, but we feel like we should not wait too long. We are nervous about advocating for ourselves in this situation. We feel like it’s too little, too late. Assuming we can successfully keep our jobs, what should we do next time to keep this from happening?

A: That’s a tough situation. When you have been through a lot of tough situations you start to believe in your instincts when you feel like something is off. So tip number one is to trust your gut.

Next, going forward, it’s important to build relationships throughout the organization so you are not cut off when a manager does something like this. Tip number 2 is to have  trustworthy relationships with all levels of people within the company. Be the kind of person others want to have a professional relationship with.

Cutting departmental employees off from the rest of the company is a scenario that is not as unusual as you would think. Managers who are insecure or out of their depth might use this maneuver to keep their bosses from finding out that they don’t know what they’re doing. It can also be used by managers for intimidation and harassment because they cut off the lifeline to others who may be able to help. Your manager was able to muddy the water with distractions to buy a little time and cast doubt on the people in your department. If you had not been so distracted by your project list, you might have picked up on the dysfunction that was happening. Tip number three is regularly take some quiet time and look around at what’s really going on in your department and in your company.

The good news is that his bosses have already figured him out, and that says something good about them. Hopefully they are perceptive about their employees and your department’s track record so far. A tip for them would be to look inside the organization for a qualified manager who is trustworthy and reliable, understands the company culture, and knows how to manage people. If they are looking for a maverick or a rainmaker, there needs to be controls in place so the company can benefit from new ideas and approaches while protecting its people. It can be easy to be sucked in by a professional job changer who paints a magical picture. Be sure to check references and dig deep when hiring.

For you, tip number four is to continue to do good work and try not to get sucked into the drama. Focus on departmental team building, transparency, proper documentation, and leadership with integrity. If you feel like your department has been severely set back, I can refer you to experts on workplace culture, family businesses, and organizational dynamics who can help you work through the issue.

Reaching out to a trusted vice president is a good idea. Gather your facts and ideas in writing. Tell the truth without exaggeration, and hit the high points that support your claims, without delving into every specific thing. I would not belabor the point that you were unaware. In today’s working world, we are expected to be alert and voice our concerns when we suspect there is a problem. Luckily this problem seems very specific to this manager and you don’t mention that there were any employees intimidated or harassed. If there are any human resources issues, be sure to consult your employee handbook and follow the proper procedures as laid out by your company.

Finally, speak to the vice president about what your department learned and how things will go better in the future. You want those in the levels above you in the organization to know you are ready to get back on track and looking out for the best interests of the company.

Keep your head up and learn from these events the best you can. We can’t anticipate everything, but we can certainly recognize patterns. Good luck!

Rock LaManna helps label and graphics company owners make better decisions. If you are ready to sell your business or improve your bottom line, integrity matters! Email [email protected] for a confidential discussion about services available from the LaManna Consulting Group.