CAREER COACH
GO TO GREG
I joined a new team at my company six months ago and my manager assigned a senior colleague to help train me and manage my projects while I’m learning the new role. What should have been a mentor/mentee relationship quickly turned sour. She regularly pushes her work off on me, blames me for anything that goes wrong and takes credit for anything that goes right. She interrupts me in meetings and is also a classic manipulator — playing the martyr, being passive-aggressive and acting overly concerned about my well-being, all the while trying to paint a negative picture of me to my boss. Needless to say, it’s a daily obstacle and wet blanket to my productivity. I’m afraid to say something to my manager because I’m still new and don’t want to appear as though I’m a complaining non-team player. How can I keep this colleague in check without ruining my reputation?
You should be worried about how she is ruining your reputation. You are allowing her to craft the narrative about you to your boss and the team, and you need to put an end to this, pronto. And not by being passive-aggressive: Be direct-aggressive (professionally, of course). At some point, you are going to have to speak to her about this, but given the situation you describe, I’d talk to the boss who set up the situation in the first place. Prepare talking points with specific objective examples demonstrating this person’s behavior and then schedule time with your boss to talk it through. Remain calm and professional. Ask your boss for advice about how to deal with this colleague who’s been assigned to mentor you. Be openminded to constructive feedback about things you might not be doing well in the new role (which isn’t an excuse for her conduct, however). Make it clear that you are open to feedback, but that her conduct is unacceptable and you don’t need that kind of mentoring. Either your boss is in charge or “your mentor” is. And, presumably, you transferred to work for that boss — not her. Speak up. And if you have any other advocates in the company such as your former boss, ask him or her for advice, too. Gregory Gian grande is a chief human resources and communications officer in the media industry. E -mail yourcareer questionstogotogreg@nypost.com. And follow Greg on Twitter: @greggiangrande.