Two decades ago, I wound up working for someone who had no idea what I did. I was the Ops Manager at a huge school.
There was always something random and dramatic going on with our employees. It was for a short while but the experience stuck with me.
My new “boss” came in because we were in hyper growth mode and the owner thought that we needed a General Manager to supervise the team.
They didn’t let me meet the guy before they hired him. He just started his job one day. I went over to his office to meet him.
“So,” I said, “I’ll be happy tell you whatever you want to know about what we do here. You must have so many questions.”
“No, not really,” said my new boss. That was my first clue!
“You go ahead and do your job and let me know if you need help.”
I didn’t need help, but I couldn’t help but wonder what my new boss would spend his time doing. He stayed in his office with the door closed all day every day.
The performance reviews came and went without any action.
There were no discussions, no guidance, and no salary changes for ANYONE.
After four months of non-communication the company owner asked me “How are things with the new boss?”
“No offense to him, but I hope he’s working on something big for you!” We literally don’t speak.” It turned out that the guy didn’t do anything meaningful duh, and he got fired about a month later. That was that!
Over time I learned that lots of bosses supervise people whose jobs they don’t understand in the slightest. Sounds familiar?
Autonomy is great!
You get to make your own decisions. There’s only one problem, but it’s a big one.
If your boss doesn’t know what you do, your job isn’t important to him or her.
It’s not safe or healthy to work for someone who doesn’t know what you do and for whom, as well as how your work makes the organization money or achieves another important goal.
If you can’t get your boss’s attention long enough to get him or her to understand and to care why you do what you do, you need an exit strategy or some other plan of action!
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