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Taking the lead when someone else should (Work on)
Kyougu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I belong to a small group of 5 workers (me included) who just got transfered to a new dept. I'm actually the youngest (at 27) with the other 4 being older women. This is important to note because I'm the one that's more technologically apt, and I caught up to the new systems and duties the fastest. Because of this I sort of taken a sort of default team lead position. If there's a question (which is not important enough to ask a supervisor), they ask me. Just earlier when our supervisor asked for updates on how our work was coming along, it was only me who actually gave her a clear, measurable answer. (Everyone else's was "good".)
So no big deal right? I don't mind taking a lead, it makes me look good, etc. Except that we already have a team lead! She was brought in a couple of months ago (When we were in our previous dept) and I'm afraid I'm overstepping my bounds. I feel as if should step up, if she's our team lead (and getting paid as such). Though if she's unwilling, someone should.
So should I reign back a bit, give her more opportunities to take a lead? Continue as I'm doing? This is my first real corporate job, so I'm not sure what's the protocol here.
So no big deal right? I don't mind taking a lead, it makes me look good, etc. Except that we already have a team lead! She was brought in a couple of months ago (When we were in our previous dept) and I'm afraid I'm overstepping my bounds. I feel as if should step up, if she's our team lead (and getting paid as such). Though if she's unwilling, someone should.
So should I reign back a bit, give her more opportunities to take a lead? Continue as I'm doing? This is my first real corporate job, so I'm not sure what's the protocol here.
Kyougu on
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Has she objected to your leadership?
A lot depends on your relationship with this woman.
On the other hand, it's good to have someone to step in if the current lead is busy / away / sick.
I think TheUnsane1 is the best. If it's realllly simple/quick, answer but try to keep passing back to the lead. It also helps that if something does go wrong, it's not your resposibility, it's rightfully your leads. It totally depends on your relationship with the lead. Talk to her about it.
Sidenote: I'm in a sort of similiar situation. I'm 26 and the youngest on the team (others all 40+) but I'm cosidered the relief lead. If my lead is away, I'm in charge even though others have been here longer and can be more knowledgable. My manager (step above my lead) has me taking leadership classes and training so I can see them grooming me for any future lead positions. I work well with everyone and primarily get left alone to do my work because it gets done.
I'm in a similar boat. We have an accounting manager, and i'm the systems analyst (i do a lot of the reporting etc etc). I keep uncovering problems with processes, as i'm trying to integrate them for ease of reporting, which our accounting manager does not want to deal with. Luckily i answer to the CFO only, so i just go over her head.
I've found that older workers tend to be the most obtuse when it comes to work. They have a job and they do it. Ask them to explain the repurcussions of what they do, or what makes up what they do, and you will get a blank stare. i work with all 40-50+ women. It's hell.
Yea I'd watch this one. That sort of an angle at this will vary wildly in effect based on what sort of management style you are dealing with, my current manager runs the office in a sort of caste system... If you're all about throwing your team lead or supervisor under the bus because you're doing x y and z for them you're about 3 times less likely to have things work out well for you. Even worse if the Team lead just steals credit for the whole idea and that's not hard to convey, "Oh Dr. Frenchenstein didn't seem like he was very busy a good bit of the time so I figured I would delegate these lower level tasks to him so that I could focus on completing more pressing work with a higher degree of detail."
What you should learn very quickly is that not everyone is born to lead.
If you are a natural leader, be a leader. A good leader is hard to stop. It's your first job so who cares? If you fuck up you fuck up, do what you want to do. You still got the whole life ahead of you.
You won't be happy as a follower.
And for fucks sake, don't ever explain why you "deserve" a promotion. Show it. If nobody notices you don't deserve it anyway.
Oh i don't mean throw them under the bus, but look at their job description and what you are doing described therein. Don't mention that you are doing it because X isn't. Make it more like you are simply taking the initiative so they can focus on people that need more guidance. If you need to mention them at all. and this is if you aren't getting a good raise, or promotion. You need to sell yourself, especially in this economy. Just make sure you deserve it.
It's usually bad to throw people under the bus, supervisor or no. I'd never advocate that.
Yea, it is not your job to give a report on your boss. It is the other way around.
I too am in a similar situation. My job position is new and my boss is new to management. He has no experience in what my job is, so the way he handles my work flow is...well... impossible. You have to help your boss be a better boss.
Be yourself.
when i was an accountant, they hired someone to be my supervisor from outside. They had NO idea what was going on (Investment Banking accounting) and they simply would check my reports for a format they liked. I frequently had to do stuff 2 and 3 times because something wasn't exactly how my supervisor wanted it. I once put in some bad data (clearly bad) and passed it to her. She didn't notice and critiqued some inane detail. I fixed it before it went to our boss though. i wanted her to die in a fire. also, she didn't like cursing, and we were a bunch of dudes. She did NOT fit.
if she isn't objecting to your leadership, and you're happy to be the lead without the higher pay accordingly, go for it.
I, along with two other employees, got called in to the manager's office. Basically because we're the most trustworthy, and hardest working of our current dept, we're being assigned a special project. Our manager also mentioned how she notices how much work is being doing by people and she made a point to note how each of us show leadership skills and hard work ethic and that was why we were being given this project. Basically she trusts us to get it done.
So that basically confirmed that I'm working right, considering the lead wasn't one of the people in that small meeting, so I'm just going to keep working as I been. Thanks for all the advice guys.
Let the grooming commence.