My boss is trying to run the business part-time. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I work for a relatively new company in the sales division. I have some very high sales targets to meet and I’m currently not meeting them.

Part of the problem I feel is that I find myself running the day-to-day business for my boss who only works three days a week and never responds to emails or takes action when required. He is new to this industry and often doesn’t know what to do. He was very clever in hiring a number of people with a lot of industry experience but won’t let them make decisions and will make the decisions for them.

The other staff come to me when they have problems and I find myself spending a lot of time following up responses I needed from higher authorities. All of this is taking me away from my sales role. As a result of all of this the company is at a standstill. Help me Aunty B.

Kind regards,
Frustrated

Dear Frustrated,

Oh dear. The distracted boss. Many companies have them. Some entrepreneurs have the attention span of gnats. They are off to the next thing, running a number of ventures at once and wearing lots of hats, some of them plain silly. Of course, that is fine if they have someone in to actually run the operations.

You are in sales so here is what you have to do. First you have to decide: do you want to run sales or the business? If it is the latter, you make a business plan with yourself as general manager or CEO. You make sure that the boss in your plan has some fancy title and has ultimate say over everything. But you make it clear the day-to-day decision-making rests with you. To make him feel better you can put in a few clauses such as if a decision involves spending $50,000 or more you will consult him.

If you decide you want to run sales, the same deal applies. Write out a plan that gives yourself increased responsibility so that you have the authority to make and execute decisions. Present it to the boss. Point out that poor management means you cannot spend enough time getting the results you want. Give the boss specific examples so he clearly understands why you are spending your time managing business decisions instead of selling.

Be very firm. Dangle the carrot which is better management and more revenue. But make sure you go for a top job! Often women – and I did see from your email address that you are a woman – complain but don’t think to put themselves forward as the solution – when they obviously are!

Good luck!
Your Aunty B

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