Why Doesn’t My Boss Give Me More Direction?

When you get promoted, you may have a reasonable expectation that your boss will spend time with you to induct you, to explain what’s important in your new role, and to walk you through the nuances of the transition.

If this has happened to you at any point during your career, you should send me a note, because the boss who took that time and care with you is a unicorn!

There are many reasons why your boss may not spend sufficient time or attention on your transition:

1. They have their own problems… multiple direct reports, pressure from their boss to deliver, and a never-ending litany of urgent brush fires to extinguish
   They’re most tuned into time efficiency, so they’ll want to spend minimal time on each of their daily demands to try to fit it all in…
   Of course, you know better–when new leaders come to work for you, it’s absolutely worth front-loading the effort by investing in onboarding your new leaders. If you don’t, you’ll pay for it with interest further down the track when they aren’t doing their job to the standard you expect!
2. They fob off responsibility to HR and organizational processes
   In larger organizations, where formal processes exist for inducting new employees, many leaders defer their accountability to HR…
   Remember, HR is a source of expert advice, not an execution arm for the things that should be done by line leaders who are supposed to be managing their people
3. They lack processes and expert support
   This is the polar opposite of the previous point – some smaller companies don’t have processes that leaders can rely upon and use… this makes it hard to know how to execute an induction process, when HR or leadership work isn’t necessarily the manager’s sweet spot
4. People assume that you know what to do
   When you take on a new role, you may well have been through a recruitment and selection process…
   Don’t forget that you’ve probably just spent many hours trying to convince your new boss that you already know exactly what to do…
   They could be forgiven for thinking you are self sufficient, after you’ve convinced them that you already know how to excel in the role
5. They never had guidance, and had to figure it out, so they assume you will too
   For many leaders, they never had a boss themselves who took a methodical approach to helping them adapt to a new role, and just learned to do things for themselves.
   They don’t necessarily mean to neglect you… they just don’t really think about it
6. They can’t articulate what they do, and what’s important
   They may be struggling with their own transition, and can’t really explain what’s different between levels… they just don’t know
   But they managed to survive by becoming more experienced, more resilient, and more confident that they could handle their job after each new promotion.

So, what’s the answer? You need to take control… You need to work out what’s required in order to be successful… this only comes through a bunch of direct conversations with key stakeholders to explain what you will be focusing on, while listening to them to try to work out what they need from you.

Have as many conversations as you can in those early weeks and months to obtain clarity and calibrate expectations… not just with your boss, but with every one of your critical stakeholders!