Cynthia Clay's Blog

Getting The Attention of a Drive-by Boss

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Drive-by bosses come in many shapes and forms. What they have in common is the neglect of their employees' needs. One drive-by boss might run poorly planned meetings that waste everyone's time. Another might neglect to complete performance evaluations, convinced that his other tasks have priority. A third might be juggling so many competing priorities that she often cancels meetings with the individuals on her team.

A Drive-by Boss' Story 

Meet Beng, a high-energy, fast-moving sales manager. Beng is on the fast track, having been rapidly promoted from account manager to sales specialist to senior sales specialist in the past two years. His track record as a salesperson is stellar--he's one of the highest producers in the division. At the end of last year, Beng received a promotion and is now the manager of a team of ten sales reps. His days are a blur of management team meetings, marketing sessions, sales forecasting meetings, and conferences with the senior executive committee. He often travels globally to Singapore, Russia, Denmark, and Portugal to meet with corporate clients.

When team members try to schedule time with Beng, he often tells them, "Have my assistant book time on my calendar." However, these meetings, while scheduled on Beng's calendar, often never happen. Something else always surfaces that drags Beng away. Denise, a new sales rep on the team, is particularly frustrated by her lack of communication with Beng. She has challenging sales goals but she doesn't have the depth of product knowledge she needs to meet them. Denise has set up three meetings with Beng and he has cancelled all of them due to other priorities that have surfaced.

Let's look at a few clues that identify the drive-by boss. He may often:

    • Miss meetings or hold them infrequently or without planning
    • Fail to provide you with clear expectations or assignments
    • Pay very little attention to or have unrealistic expectations about your work or workload
    • Fail to respond to messages
    • Avoid conducting performance appraisals or providing regular feedback
    • Fail to keep you informed on important developments
    • Provide insufficient resources
    • Ignore performance problems and team conflicts
    • Seem stressed and harried
    • Lack the respect of his colleagues

Drive-by Bosses may lack key management skills, may be overwhelmed by competing priorities, may expect their team to sink or swim, or may not enjoy the requirements of managing others.  To hear a drive-by boss in action, watch this short video at NetSpeed Fast Tracks.

There are three principles that can help you work with drive-by bosses to encourage greater engagement: Take Responsibility, Extend Respect, and Be Real.

Take Responsibility

    • Look at your contribution to the situation.
    • Focus on what you can do about the drive-by boss. Help him and educate him.
    • Communicate. Keep your boss informed.
    • Perform well (so your boss will want to help you).

Extend Respect

    • Listen carefully to his reasons for delaying actions.
    • Respect the organization's structure and culture.
    • Honor differences in style or work method.

Be Real

    • Bring up issues that are on your mind.

Many drive-by bosses need their employees to organize their requests, carefully plan their interactions, and focus on reducing how much time is required to present situations, questions, and recommendations. Rather than complaining about the boss, you will work more constructively by taking responsibility for getting what you need from him.

The Rest of the Story

Denise realized that Beng was drowning in a sea of outside demands. She decided to make it easier for Beng to give her what she needed: clear goals and expectations, regular feedback, and recognition for her successful efforts at getting ramped up on products and services, leading to her first closed sales. Instead of trying to pin him down for meetings, she put together a one-page, weekly status report with four sections. At the top she listed her weekly goals (with space for Beng to add his performance expectations). In the second section, she listed ongoing tasks followed by 2 - 3 bullet points updating Beng on their status. In the third section, she listed new product knowledge gained as well as sales she had closed. At the bottom, she listed the week's accomplishments that she wanted to flag for Beng, and any outstanding questions or concerns she had.

As Denise organized the information she shared with Beng, he found he could quickly scan her status report and focus only on her immediate needs. He began to shoot short emails back to her acknowledging her accomplishments and making suggestions for the upcoming week. After a few weeks, he suggested they meet face-to-face so he could support her continued development.

Listen to the audio recording (at the very bottom of the web page) to hear how to respond constructively when a drive-by boss is leaving you in the dust.  

This article is based on Peer Power: Transforming Workplace Relationships by Cynthia Clay and Ray Olitt. Read a sample chapter to learn about the mistakes they've made in their past communication practices.



Posted by Cynthia Clay at 12:52 pm