He's got you running in circles!

"The master's madness without the squire's stupidity wouldn't be worth a cent."

---Cervantes

In the work world, there is an algorithm which one can easily prove that, as a person's responsibilities increase, their is an exponential increase in forgetfulness, complacency, mistrust, waffling, and impetuousness. In other words: Sheer Madness!

Over the years, I've coached hundreds of clients who had major 'madness' issues with their supervisors. "My boss has me running in circles and I can't take it any more!" was the common opening problem statement. Upon further discussion, I learned that this 'madness' had more practical descriptors:

1. The boss changes her mind and decides to go an entirely new direction with a project--- half-way towards its completion.

2. The boss changes his mind and decides to go an entirely new direction with a project--- days before its completion.

3. The boss frequently forgets the instructions she has given you. As a result, she often thinks you are wrong and inept when the outcome isn't quite what she expected.

4. The boss nearly always goes days without reading your emails or returning your voice mails.

5. IF the boss reads your emails, they are only answered with a "GREAT" or "OK" with no elaboration or no attention to your questions or needs for following up.

6. Despite your extensive and painful efforts and crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i', your boss still misses the details of your instructions, and goes to the wrong meeting room or fails to bring the mandatory documents every single time.

7. The boss frequently asks other co-workers to take on projects that are either very similar to, or are exactly identical to the projects he has given you......and, he doesn't remember to tell you about it.

8. When you hand your boss a document/memo, she doesn't read what you are asking her to read at that moment...she just glances at it, flips a few pages and hands it back to you while you're trying to point out information within.

9. When you leave information with your boss and ask him to review it, he loses it and never gets a chance to review it. When you have your follow up meeting, one week later, he informs you that he misplaced it and asks you to 'catch him up' on the contents of your document.

10. Overall, you just generally feel like a repository for crappy assignments, and you get little or no substantial time or guidance from your boss. You feel like an unimportant means to an end.

What could possibly be the explanation for a VP, executive director or even a CEO to manage tasks and personnel this way? How can there be forgiveness? If you or I performed like this for even a few weeks, we'd be fired on the spot, so the questions remain: Why does this happen and How is it allowed to continue?

First, "Why does this happen?" A CEO, VP and most executives are spread very thin. There's too many expectations and not enough time. The high-demand nature of these positions create high levels of stress which tax and fatigue a person's memory. The high-profile nature of these positions tax and fatigue a person's temper and tolerance for 'minutiae', which means your petty little concerns cannot be given any time or attention. But this is where the conundrum occurs, the VP gives you an assignment, he wants it done a certain way, and you go do it. He's too busy & stressed to remember the details of your project, but when you ask for some guidance, instead you get a complete change of direction---you get sent back to 'start.' Maybe its the stress, maybe its Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, maybe your boss is forgetful, maybe your boss doesn't care, maybe your boss is a spazz who shouldn't be a VP or CEO. It could be a number of reasons. But the WHY shouldn't be our focus, we need to spend our time on the HOW.

Second, "How is this allowed to continue?" Its frustrating, yes, but you might not be getting sent back to 'start' because your boss forgot the original plans. In the world of the CEO and VP, life changes and adjusts at blistering speeds. What was a great, life-altering idea 5 minutes ago, has suddenly gone the way of New Coke. And its this information that he/she has which YOU DON'T have. More often than not, the changes in your petty little projects are coming from larger developments upstream. That's business life and there's nothing you can do about that except ask your boss to communicate these potential changes to you a little more clearly/often/regularly, whatever will work for the both of you.

Which brings us to the REAL problem solver: constant communication. Not the smothering, 'please take care of me' type, just quick check-ins. My clients had to learn how to feel comfortable with approaching their CEO or VP boss to request a regularly scheduled 5 minute check-in each morning, or a designated weekly briefing for 30 minutes, or a planned phone chat at the end of the month---anything that would allow the 2 of them to make sure all was still on due course and if there were any changes on the horizon, they could be discussed early on.

The difficult part, for my clients, was to suggest such discussions. They feared they might appear inept, or unable to 'take the instructions and run with them.' They didn't want to seem high maintenance either. And, what was most frightful of all, was the thought of informing their bosses that he/she could stand to sharpen their attention to detail skills when it came to reviewing memos, etc. But true growth cannot happen without that type of feedback. Toadies and butt-kissers will never give it to the CEO straight, but your career depends upon your boss's success. If you can't deliver because of a lack of communication, then you're gone, not your boss.

So, the choice is yours: Either make the time to have the critical conversations with your boss or contribute to his madness and be the useless squire who's stupidity could ultimately get you both fired!