Feds: Manager with blocked off calendar

[Anonymous]

I am a manager in a small division. There is one other manager who is my peer; we have the same job and manage separate portfolios, but there is collaboration required with our teams. We have a job that requires a lot of in person and virtual meetings. Site visits, conferences, meetings for our external partners. It is a job where you spend a lot of time collaborating with others on group assignments. The other manager and I have now worked together for three years. I am not sure if this is typical behavior, but her internal messenger status is always "do not disturb" or busy and her calendar is completely blocked off from before core work hours until the evening. I get blocking time to do work or so you have some meeting prep, but in our line of work, we don't have that luxury. We have a lot of meetings and we have to meet with people in different time zones and locations. We have to arrange travel and virtual conferences/webinars. Whenever ANYONE tries to schedule a meeting with this manager, she is unavailable. I brought it up to my old boss, as it was impeding our work. She said she could not tell someone how to manager their calendar. It is obvious to me that she just blocks her calendar off so that she can control her schedule. But it is problematic because then no one can use Teams or Outlook to schedule a meeting. I email her to give me three available dates and times and she will then say she is not available for weeks, for something time sensitive. I work with a lot of old school people and I was also socialized not to disturb someone if their messenger or Teams is on "red" or "do not disturb". My old boss did nothing.

What would you do? I cannot wait three weeks for a time sensitive project. My boss is not addressing. My team brings this up in their one on ones and performance assessments. I even sent my boss a time study, accounting for her chronic lack of availability. This other manager is also quite difficult and rigid personality wise. She has a problem with every internal partner in our agency and external partners constantly contact us with negative feedback about their interactions with her and inability to respond to emails, phone calls or meeting requests. Short of finding a new job, I am at my wits end. I love my job and I don't want to leave because of this person. But I'm unable to get my work done in a timely manner and I feel like she purposely does this so she will be given less work and assignments and responsibility.

[Anonymous]

My immediate supervisor is like this too, except her calendar is blocked off bc she accepts way too many meetings. I flagged it for her when it was time for a 360 review and her solution was to make the meetings visible so we can choose a time based on what meetings of hers are less essential. I don't even bother. I now schedule meetings as best I can to include her and she can rearrange her schedule if she thinks it is warranted.

With your colleague, I would do the same - schedule them and put the onus on her to rearrange her calendar. If she complains, just say her schedule is too blocked for your to plan around.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP. Stop being so deferential.

What part of the project(s) does this other manager control that you need to move forward?

I would start being a little more insistent with her when she says she's not available for three weeks. Tell her you are sorry, but this meeting can't wait and she can send a delegate or you'll brief her afterwards. Find a workaround for any approvals you need from here.

[Anonymous]

When you send the first message asking for 3 times from her, include this information:
1. Her calendar is too blocked to schedule a meeting.
2. XYZ issue is time-sensitive so meeting must be scheduled by abc.
3. If she is unable to send times to meet #2, you will schedule without her and give her an update.

In other words - include all information so the end result if she is unable to comply is that meeting will happen anyway.

If you have provide something to someone that requires her input and you are unable to get the input from her, you respond to the person who needs the information with what you have, cc her, and tell the person that she will provide the missing _____.

[Anonymous]

I typically send her an email (names made up):
Susan,

I couldn't find any availability on your calendar for the next few weeks. We need to finish the project due Thursday to Melissa by Wednesday, so we can run through the presentation. Please give me three times Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday after 10 am ET since Soo, Damian, Portia, and Erik are on the west coast. If you are unable to attend, please send Roger or Miguel in your place or another delegate.

Thanks,
Avery

She sent me an email "we are so incredibly busy, no one is available". Roger and Miguel messaged me on our interoffice Messenger that they were in fact available, but that she had blocked three hour individual meetings with each of them. They feel she will retaliate. I also gave this info back on her 360 review. What is crazy is that if she messages you or emails you, she wants it right away. I think it's intentional to have less work.

[Anonymous]

Oh the other thing, she comes into work at 6:30/7 am. She will schedule meetings with our West Coast coworkers at that time! They are fine with starting their day at 10 ET even though it is super early, but not 6:30/7 am ET!

[Anonymous]

Is she an idiot in general? Or unaware of where her team works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh the other thing, she comes into work at 6:30/7 am. She will schedule meetings with our West Coast coworkers at that time! They are fine with starting their day at 10 ET even though it is super early, but not 6:30/7 am ET!

Yeah that's unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

OP here. She is aware of where her team is located and I don't think she gives a shit. I hate saying it, but she is an incredibly difficult person in general. It is really early to expect people online at 7 am on the west coast but they try to be flexible. She isn't flexible at all.

I try to limit my interactions with her and I have even been so bold as to address her behavior as how it impedes operations and transparency and communication issues. She always acts like she is trying to improve on these things, but then just does whatever. I will often see her in her office, meeting with someone for hours at a time. My team mates said she will schedule 3 hour one on ones for them to actually do there work with her. She is a prime example of a person who has an incredible CV which impressed my old boss being a total disaster of an employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I typically send her an email (names made up):
Susan,

I couldn't find any availability on your calendar for the next few weeks. We need to finish the project due Thursday to Melissa by Wednesday, so we can run through the presentation. Please give me three times Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday after 10 am ET since Soo, Damian, Portia, and Erik are on the west coast. If you are unable to attend, please send Roger or Miguel in your place or another delegate.

Thanks,
Avery

She sent me an email "we are so incredibly busy, no one is available". Roger and Miguel messaged me on our interoffice Messenger that they were in fact available, but that she had blocked three hour individual meetings with each of them. They feel she will retaliate. I also gave this info back on her 360 review. What is crazy is that if she messages you or emails you, she wants it right away. I think it's intentional to have less work.

This email is soooo constraining though. She's not your subordinate, she's your equal. Use he scheduling assistant to pick a time when the majority of the group is free, and, importantly, when Roger or Miguel are free. Then send a meeting invite with a descriptive subject heading and a clear description of the purpose of the meeting in the body of the meeting invite. Let her prioritize whether she wants to attend; she will see her delegates on there, so she can decide. If I got your email, I would be really off-put and a tad overwhelmed. If I got a meeting invite with clear goals for the meeting with other members of my team also on the invite, I'd read it, assess whether it is important enough that I need to be there or whether my staff could handle it, and RSVP accordingly. (I'd probably RSVP tentative to keep the option open and make sure the meeting had coverage.)

[Anonymous]

Why do you need to see her calendar to request a meeting?

[Anonymous]

I don't need to see her calendar, just when she is free. Her calendar shows the time blocked off back to back, everyday for months, years. I only sent that email because she is NEVER available. The times she proposes she forgets about the colleagues on the West Coast. I just schedule the meetings without her, inviting her team. She doesn't show and they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh the other thing, she comes into work at 6:30/7 am. She will schedule meetings with our West Coast coworkers at that time! They are fine with starting their day at 10 ET even though it is super early, but not 6:30/7 am ET!

She sets meetings for 7:00 am ET? So 4:00am PT? That’s absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't need to see her calendar, just when she is free. Her calendar shows the time blocked off back to back, everyday for months, years. I only sent that email because she is NEVER available. The times she proposes she forgets about the colleagues on the West Coast. I just schedule the meetings without her, inviting her team. She doesn't show and they do.

That sounds like a problem solved to me.

[Anonymous]

If her team is showing up, why do you need her? Sounds like she has delegated authority to them. Can you completely cut her out of the loop?