Enforcing an unwritten policy when your boss doesn't have your back
When carrying out policies that exist only in your manager's brain, tread carefully to avoid damaging your own reputation
Follow @ITCatalystsDear Bob ...
How do I handle it when the boss wants me to be the bad guy?
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For example, a user will enter a help desk ticket requesting something we don't do, such as provide a loaner notebook for a trip they are taking or requesting support for software the user has installed without IT's permission. My boss, or, more frequently, my boss's boss, will put the ticket in my queue and send me an email saying, "Tell them we don't do this because it's an unwritten policy we have" -- a different problem as the director absolutely refuses to put any policy in writing.
The latest episode that prompts this email is one of the top executives requesting we help one of his people with a process that's gone awry. When it turned out that this person was using an unsupported method for the process, it became my problem (at the IT director's behest) to explain to the user that she would need to change her way of doing things.
In the director's words: "I am sure that if it is explained to [user] that she will be happy to let you do the [process] for her. Give her a call and see how she reacts."
Well, as you might expect, she was not at all happy about having to change her way of doing things, and I got to hear all about how this process has worked for years and I don't see why I have to change, and so on.
I suppose it wouldn't be bad if I felt that the director had my back, but he's burned me before about things like this. It's almost as if he is playing "good cop-bad cop" with us grunts always ending up as the bad cop.
Is there a way to get management to take responsibility and still keep my job?
- In the middle
Dear Exposed ...
Congratulations. This is a new one -- an email instructing you to cite an unwritten policy. Since an email, according to standard English usage, is a written document, you now have a written unwritten policy. Wonderful!
To answer the question you asked, no. If you worked for the sort of manager who took responsibility, your managers would already be doing exactly that -- taking responsibility. Instead, you work for the sort of manager who views company politics as a game and who plays it both for fun and to win. If you want to change their behavior, you'll have to change the game; trying to play their game better than they do isn't likely to be a winning approach.
