I’m a Sr Director at my company. I’ve been asked by my VP to report to another Sr Director on my team. This seems very odd to me. Has anyone else been in a similar situation and how did you handle it?
Most likely that Sr director has been there for a while and proved him/her self. VP is establishing a clear favorite/successor to his role.
Perhaps, but my question is how you navigate this without it being a career killer?
Either they think you are not as good as she is or vp doesn’t like you very much. Or she is trying to overpower you and become go herself
Get a job elsewhere ? Is it an option?
Getting another job is always an option. My question is how to best handle the situation and still succeed at my current company.
Who cares?
Maybe your VP is trying to cater to diversity needs? Like a company target/image? Anyway best is to ask him why. Also, very likely the other Sr director/lady had been bugging your boss on what's next.
That’s very common in a current climate. Unfortunately. We are not even allowed to say it, but someone else did
Interesting. She has been loudly angling for a promotion and the larger team is not diverse. Unfortunately my VP wouldn’t answer me when I asked why during my annual review (I did get a strong rating, bonus and raise)—just a vague answer that his team org is too flat. He admitted that her management skills were non existent compared to mine, but wouldn’t answer why her and not me. On the other hand she is more oriented to the product management side of the team than marketing, and it is an engineering driven group.
Well, it’s simple- 1) if this is a job that you want to continue to stay then don’t make it as a competition, build relationship with this peer and continue work as a peer and her involved in manager level decision making process. Have a word with the ceo on what it looks for you fr next 5 years in the company and ask for advice on what you should do to achieve it. 2) if not, GTFO. Who cares? If the time investment in (1) is not worth it then start looking for jobs. Continue doing the same quality work at your current company and keep your priority as interviewing and not to get into the VP fight.
If #1 Should I do as my VP asks and help show her the ropes when it comes to delegating, managing people/projects, or just smile, show her deference, and do a good job as I have been? I do have a meeting scheduled with my bosses boss-unfortunately my old CEO left after acquisition and the Current CEO is inaccessible.
Well you aren’t a VP technically to show her the VP responsibilities- so why bother? 😬 keep your VP learnings to yourself and just do your director level job and support her in a general sense (info that everyone knows). Looks like all your sponsors left the company- perhaps it’s a sign towards #2?
I saw the same thing happen recently with a VP in our company. They hired someone from outside and gave him the same title and told our VP to report to him. It was clear they were planning to lay him off. What he did was show the new guy lots of respect but at the same time he showed how much he knew and how valuable he was. Soon the new guy realized he would be screwed if he let them lay off the guy who was reporting to him. They are still both here and the guy who they wanted to lay off is one of the most valued people. The new guy with the same title is struggling.
Maybe your VP has too many reports and wants to off load some management responsibility. Why he chose him over you is something you will need to talk to your vp about
That was the excuse, however he manages by benign neglect, allowing me and the other Sr Director to pretty much operate independently, so the management overhead in my group is minimal. Besides, do you destroy the career of a strong performer for the sake of organizational simplicity?
I didn't read the comments yet, but just looking at the question, I can tell you that you shouldn't care about it. I'm an SDE-II and I work with my peers who are SDE-Is and interns. Often, we are given tasks to work together on and we report to each other (ex : report to SDE-Is or IIs). Maybe the person whom you are reporting to is being tried on to the next level... Don't worry too much about it. As you are a senior director that speaks to your career achievements. Just move on as BAU.
The reasons don’t matter anymore. You need to leave ASAP.
Need more info. For how long you be been reporting to vp? What about another director
I was technically reporting to the CEO for 4 years and after we were acquired I was placed under my current VP for the last year (though I’ve practically worked for him for the past 5 years). The other director has been here for 2-3 years. I have extensive team management and industry experience, she has never managed a significant team before.
Uh oh. this sounds bad. They don't need you anymore. Do you have a good relationship with your prev CEo and this VP?