ShapesaSelling

Account Executive

Do I confront my boss?

Question pretty much sums it up. Some background: My boss used to be an enterprise rep and has been recently promoted to management for the first time. He's been extremely flaky on 1on1s, deal reviews, and impossible to reach for questions.

One of my teammates had to call him 6 times one day to get an answer on an important billing issue with a customer.

Last week, he asked me to put time on his calendar to go over my independent growth plan for the year (as in, what I want to accomplish, how much I want to sell, yadda yadda yadda). So the morning of, he accepts the call about an hour prior, and when the time comes he doesn't show.

10 minutes go by... nothing, so I ping him and ask him if he's going to make it or if I should reschedule? Another 10 minutes go by.. so I reschedule the meeting for later in the week.

Hours later, he pings me and says that he had to pick up his son from camp last minute and that he forgot to bring his phone, which is a "first for him". Based on past history with him, and his response, this is utter bullshit.

In my eyes, he's clearly looking for another job or interviewing for one. I don't care if he's looking since I'd rather not have to deal with him anymore, but is it worth confronting him on this? I'm currently closing the most business on his team and he barely shows me, or his team, any respect.

All I ask is that if he is leaving, to not waste my time. Is this a fair ask / strategy? Or should I just suck it up and wait for him to inevitably leave?

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Kinonez

Celebrated Contributor

4

War Room Enthusiast

I would bring this up to him, asking if he is ok, tell him you've noticed he hasn't been himself lately and you see him a bit distracted, so he doesn’t see it as an attack, rather than you just checking on him.

If he is unreachable or doesn’t change, I'd go to HR with the same approach, plus adding how his behavior could impact on your team.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

2

Sr. Customer Success Manager

Build awareness - He might not be even conscious about it

Safety3rd

Fire Starter

1

Sr. Account Executive

Seems like this fella is about to jump ship. If you can reach him, honest feedback about how you’re feeling, how his actions or inaction impacts your day to day is a absolute must in my book. Since the latest thing that happened had to do with your personal development beginning with how it impacts you is A1. Team impacts, if there are any should be talked about too, but try not to make it seem like you’ve been talking about your feelings with the rest of the team(even if you have) so that it doesn’t seem like you’re attacking. Since offices for most folks aren’t really a thing anymore, it’s much easier to silo yourself and get lost in your feelings instead of just doing something about it. So it’s good that you have an idea of how you want to address the problem. The important thing is to actually do it if what’s going on is really bothering you.

CaneWolf

Politicker

0

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Do you have a relationship with his boss?

ShapesaSelling

Opinionated

0

Account Executive

Yes and no. People have brought up concerns to him in the past, but he just tells my manager and who said it.

CaneWolf

Politicker

0

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I would just have bare minimum interaction with the guy and then bother the shit out of him when you really need something.

NoSuperhero

Politicker

0

BDR LEAD

I think the best way to go about this is take ownership of what you need to do, and be the boss you'd like to be. Do your 110%, focus and your work and do your best.

If you want to talk to your boss, ask him maybe if there's any way you can help to ''soften'' the load (only if that fits into downtime and doesn't affect your numbers). This will show your boss's boss you're someone that they can count on.

If HR does any type of anonymous review, def be sincere.

GDO

Politicker

0

BDM

Just ask him what's up. Give him the chance to explain and then tell him why you dislike the behavior, what impact it has on you and what you expect from him.

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