In an ideal world your boss would support you and your career goals, open up opportunities, and pave the way for you to be successful at your company. But the world isn’t ideal and even managers who once seemed quite supportive can make a sudden shift. For example, the boss of a technical director I worked with seemed to lose confidence in her and would effectively embargo her comments, not sharing them with other senior leaders; the boss of a marketing director in another client company explicitly forbade her to chat with other senior leaders she previously had access to.
What to Do If You Think Your Boss Is Shutting You Out
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It can be extremely difficult to deal with a boss who is shutting you out. They may exclude you from crucial meetings, stop answering or deflect your questions, disparage your input, and ignore your needs for resources or other support. Here are four approaches you can use to attempt rapprochement, maintain satisfaction with your job (if not with your boss), and keep your career moving forward. First, verify your assumptions. Make sure the your boss is treating you differently from the way they treat everyone. Try to repair the relationship. If you can tell that your relationship is not as trusting or cordial as it had been, look for a way to get back in their good graces. It can be important to show your boss that you value them and their leadership, and that you want to set things right. If the relationship can’t be repaired, then don’t spend all your energy focusing on that relationship. Instead, concentrate on what you contribute to the organization. Be creative and look for opportunities to build new alliances with other colleagues to accomplish more than you could on your own without your boss’s support. Try to find other opportunities to build indirect support around your organization.
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