<p>New job - divide time between 2 locations so there are 2 different supervisors. Like most people they are different in what they want and how they interact and their style of management and analysis of performance.</p>
<p>Has anyone faced this and if so how best to deal with it?</p>
<p>I am dealing with it at the moment. I have been since maybe June and will be expected to stagger the line between my old department and my new one until January at the earliest. Will be curious to see responses here, because I think I am handling it as best as possible and it is still not going very well. In my case, they are playing tug of war with my time and attention in a way that is not really conducive to anybody getting what they want or need.</p>
<p>I’ve sort of been in this position, and found that the key was to communicate expectations - both ways with everyone. So, if one manager is trying to steal your time, you need to say, “Hey, I’m booked doing X for Bob which will take X amount of time, but I can do this at ____ time/day.” You sort of make it their problem, not yours.</p>
<p>I am asking for my D- it is her first job so this has made that much more difficult than the normal stress.</p>
<p>What kind of work does she do for them? Are these 2 supervisors equal in the pecking order of the company? How was the dual supervisor aspect explained to her when she was hired, or is this something new?</p>
<p>I second syzy100’s suggestion, I’ve seen it work.</p>
<p>I go with the idea that the two different bosses actually CARE that their various demands are conflicting so when they learn of it, they will want to balance the assignments/priorities.
Of course, that assumption that they care is not always the case. But starting there is a good plan.</p>
<p>I like the phrasing of “I can complete that by_______time/day” rather than a generic expression of total overwhelming stressed out frustration…
easy to say, not always easy to pull off.</p>
<p>My son ran into this in his new job - two supervisors, two different jobs, vastly differing management styles (one plans and communicates, the other orders and expects mind-reading). He found it pretty stressful but did the best that he could. The work environment changed so that he spends almost all of his time working for the good supervisor now so it’s much less of an issue.</p>
<p>One of the companies that I used to work for was big into Matrix Management. You could have multiple people giving you work to do and you’d have to negotiate work and schedules with them or your permanent manager.</p>
<p>In my job, I get tasks sent to me from all over the place. I own a base of code and people can ask me to look at things, fix things, test things, etc. based on the responsibilities associated with the code. Sometimes I have to talk to my manager about prioritizing the work as some of the people requesting my time act as if I don’t have anything else to do other than taking care of their requests.</p>
<p>Your daughter hopefully has a main manager who can negotiate difficult demands and conflicts with the other supervisors.</p>
<p>I would suggest she keep a log (either in a notebook or electronically) of all the tasks she is assigned and when she does them. This way when Mgr B asks why task #4 isn’t completed, your daughter can glance at her log to say “well, it came on Tuesday afternoon just after Mgr A gave me tasks #2-3 which were completed this morning so I need another half-day on task #4”.</p>
<p>Doing this makes weekly or monthly statuses a breeze to write!</p>
<p>There are very few jobs nowadays where there is only one manager. If there is work assignment conflict, your daughter should ask her two managers to work it out. Communication is key here, keeping both informed on what she is working on at all time.</p>
<p>I agree communication is key. She is teaching at 2 different schools within the same district. I think she was taken aback by the differing styles. At this point she feels she will never be able to please one supervisor and a month in to teaching she feels slighly battered. Still loves the classroom and wants to teach, loves her kids etc. She feels like the criticism is personal and not constructive. Feedback from others has been positive with guidance and suggestions on how to improve but also with plenty of job well done.</p>
<p>She needs to approach the “tough” supervisor and discuss the issue. Tough for a kid to do on their first job, especially after such a short time. I have seen such discussions go well. I have also seen them lead to the supervisor trying to break the employee for daring to question how they communicate. Life is sure full of opportunities to learn about human behavior.</p>
<p>At least she is getting positive feedback from someone. Tell her to remember the positive feedback whenever the other supervisor is being unreasonable. Part of maturity is knowing when there is no pleasing of some people and she shouldn’t let those people make her feel bad. One thing to remember also is that I am sure she is not the only one who feels that way about this tough supervisor, other people maybe getting the same treatment. Tell her to hang in there.</p>
<p>Thanks oldfort we have. I want to be fair and the tough supervisor may have valid criticism. I am not there so it would be unfair for me to take my kids side. The issue is how the message comes across. I have tried to tell D that everyone who has ever had a job has gone through this at one time or another. Sometimes you can work it out other times you just need to wait it out or leave.</p>
<p>Happens all the time, sometimes it’s dotted line to one and solid line to the other sometimes it’s simply two managers. Not unusual these days. And agree with oldfort and good advice, communication is key and if there is conflict about whose work gets done first and that is insurmountable by the OP’s D then having the two managers work it out is best.</p>