Boss Moved On

[Cypress]

Thankfully, my tyrant of a boss has quit and moved on. The date was one week and one year after I took the job as exec assistant to the Town Manager for a midsize community. Jeesh she was too much for me. She probably has good skills for a change manager, high level negotiations or something else, but on the whole, staff found her abrupt, chaotic, micro-managing and disruptive. Everything for her was an emotional scene. I never had a boss that was so volatile in general. I was not used to an A personality. I though she had ADHD her manner was so strange to me.

Sorry this sounds like a big whiny vent, but my nature is quiet, spiritual and kind. She said she hired me because I possessed those qualities and gave off a different set of manners. Who can say what the next boss will be like, I just pat myself on the back for surviving this beast and keeping my sanity intact.

[redfox]

Wow, CONGRATS!! Good leaders, even type A personalities, are not chaotic micromanagers and highly emotional. You're describing someone with poor emotional intelligence, and though she may have had the requisite job experience and skills, if those are not balanced by someone who has done their work to manage their own reactivity, the skills are useless.

How someone does something is equally important to what they do. I hope your team can have some influence on the next hire, and be able to screen for a competent and mature individual.

[jania]

Maybe there's something in the air?......My boss just "disappeared" a few weeks ago. This person was not well liked by the entire staff and seemed to be making decisions that, in the long run, would not be beneficial to the company. Whether it was employee dissatisfaction or bottom-line numbers I will never know. I was amazed though at how happy the entire staff was the day the boss was gone, I really have never seen anything like it, there were so many smiles and just a lightness in the air. Now there's the wait and see who will be brought in next.

[Cypress]

The majority of administrative staff took the day off Friday. I am not sure if that was intentional or they simply had better things to do. She had an unfortunate habit of praising to the skies her Dept Heads. The Dept Heads as a group exhibited appropriate supportive behavior through the month long process. I admire their professional manner. The Board also behaved well and she was given a cordial good bye party. Most of the admin's did not attend. She habitually griped about admin's including me or ignored them completely. The admin's in general felt let down and ignored. This was the best thing for the staff. Morale was low and I would guess if the economy was in better shape, we'd all have moved on.

When she hired me, I realized she had some rough manners but knew town managers in some cases, come and go. She was definitely a short timer. I am hopeful the interim will be calm, simply steer the ship for a few months and be flexible. We are interviewing 7 who are all ready to step in the next day. We had 24 applications for a 3-4 month position. The majority had a law degree. I am in Massachusetts and applications came in from as far away as Maine and Alaska.

[pinkytoe]

Wow...my boss also let me know he is leaving in about six months. True to form, he asked me to keep the news from others. What an a--!