i wrote about my very bossy boss sometime back and a great blogger friend advised me that for such characters, it is important to have decisions and important conversations captured in writing, e.g. via email, so that a trail can be captured.
i can totally appreciate this advice after these few weeks of observation. i noticed he is a person who is quick to jump on us, and blame us for for things that, often a times, are not justified. case of point was how he jumped onto a colleague of mine and screamed at her for not updating a set of documents according to his instructions. and when my colleague insisted she did not get any input, his first reaction was (in a not too friendly a manner) - "you wait, i go check my email..." i have seen this sentence being uttered once to many times now.
and almost a few times a week, we would get nasty-sounding emails from him, although the things he wrote were factual and that you cannot find fault with it (such as - stating that we should observe 1-hour lunches, we should start work at 8.30, we should clear our leave by end-of-the-month, etc). it didn't feel good to get such emails considering we are all adults and rather senior by position. and frankly, i believe such policies are stated in good faith but in its implementation, there is always room for give-and-take between leaders and their team members.
any, i have given this manner of controlling us a term. i call it mbe, or "management by emails".
couldn't get any worst.
lesson learnt for me: never do it like him. such style of communication is, by itself, flawed and ineffective. effective people pepper their communications with an copious amount of respect. that differentiates a leader from a boss. we are communicating with another human being, not a robot.
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