When Your New Boss Took Your Job

There is a promotion opportunity in your department. Your old boss, the one who just retired, told you that you are well qualified for her position. Several team members encourage you to apply for your manager’s position. Since you did a lot of your previous manager’s job, you know you are well qualified for the position. You apply for the position and are waiting for Human Resources to formally tell you about your promotion. Instead, Human Resources tells you that they are going to post the position, recruit from outside the organization and then select the best candidate. You are not happy about this new information and can’t believe that with your qualifications and years of service to the company, they don’t give the manager’s job to you. Although annoyed, you decide you will play the game of going through the interview process. It will be another month or two before you formally get the job. You interview for the job and you feel the interview goes well. You are the only internal candidate and the only one who knows everything about the company, the team and the work.

A month goes by and you are called to a meeting in Human Resources. You are excited to hear formally about your promotion. But that is not what happens. HR lets you know that they have hired a leader from the outside and you will have a new boss starting next Monday. The next information gets even harder to hear. Your new boss has less experience and knowledge in the industry than you do and almost no expertise leading the work of your department team. You are dumbfounded to understand how anyone could make this decision and struggling to see how this situation could ever work.

As you drive home that evening, your initial thought is you should quit. Since you believe the new manager is not qualified, that will really put the company in a tough situation. A second thought is to let the new manager fail on his own. That should not be too hard since he does not know what he is doing. A third thought is to complain to other leaders in the organization about the injustice that was rendered to you in this decision. After all the years you have spent giving your life to this organization, it is wrong and unfair for them to do this to you. Last, since people in the organization don’t see the value you bring as a leader, you will need to point out all the things that your new boss does not know or does wrong.

So what do you do? This decision has put you in the middle of a situation that is frustrating, humiliating, defeating and scary and you don’t know exactly what your future looks like reporting to a new boss. As bad as this situation is or appears to be, our number one recommendation to people in this situation is to remain in control. If you are going to leave the company, your goal should be to leave on your terms with a new job you love. The opposite of control is being fired by your new boss…when you least expect it.

Here are 5 tips to help you maintain control in this difficult situation.

Change your self-talk and mindset: One individual told us that they could never work for a manager they did not respect. And they will never respect a leader who is not technically strong in the industry. The other mindset is, “I can work for anyone” and then go out of your way to make your relationship with your new boss successful.

Over communicate: Go out of your way to ensure there are no surprises with your boss because you forgot to share important information. You know what information is important. Your boss is new and he does not. Go out of your want to make sure your new boss has the right information to help them be successful. Set up a daily or weekly meeting so you can communicate timely information and learn more about how you can help your boss achieve his goals.

Collaborate: Support your new boss and ensure his success. Although you are not happy with the decision to hire your new boss and take YOUR job, what is most important for you to realize is starting on your new boss’ first day, you and he are on the same team. To not support your boss and not do everything you can to help him be successful, you are only confirming that the company made the right decision in not promoting you. Even if your boss does not work out and is fired, if you played a role in undermining his success, you still will not be given the promotion.

Gossip: If you are going to gossip about your new boss, speak positively about him to others. To spread negative information will only make others feel that you have sour grapes and are not doing well with the transition.

Develop options: If the situation with the new boss is intolerable, we recommend that you seek other employment. This might be in a different area of your own company or a new job at a different organization. The key here is to take action.  Do not feel you are stuck with nothing you can do undermining your reputation with words and actions that do not align with good communication, cooperation and teamwork.

It has been our experience that about a third of the time, you and the new boss will get it together and make a great team. A third of the time, you are not going to align with the new boss and will most likely be fired…or worse, you will stay miserable in the job reporting to a boss you do not like. Last, about a third of the time the new boss is not going to work out and will leave on his own or be fired. If the new boss is fired, what happens to you? If you have built your reputation as a leader who excels at good communication, cooperation and teamwork, even in difficult situations, there is a really good chance that this time, you will be promoted as the manager.