Does your manager know how to do your job? (real estate, owner, insurance)

[oldtrader]

The military spoiled me with this.

E6s and E7s were once E1s, E2s, and E3s. They KNEW the job, so they could understand us better than the O6 who had no clue lol.

Boy, was I shocked when I entered civilian life and found out that middle management were just as clueless as those at the top.

Again you are not right about all military jobs.

I was the Air Terminal Chief which means in charge of all passengers and cargo going through a large Naval Air Terminal.

I replaced a retiring E-7 Chief. I was a E-4 Aviation Boatswain Mate Third Class. I held the job for 2 years till my enlistment was up. My section leader under me were in charge of cargo, was an E-5 Second Class Aviation Mechanic. The section leader in charge of Passengers was a E-6 First Class Aviation Mechanic. Both had been in the navy over 10 years vs. my 2 years in the navy. We would have a new officer in the squadron each day to be that day's air terminal officer. His only duty was to be there to sign the papers that needed an officers signature. I ran the port section (every other day 24 hour duty). Even the navy has times that experience and knowledge will exceed the number of stripes you have on your arm when you are being assigned. I was transferred back to that squadron from the big one at Barbers Point Hawaii, when they could not find a chief anywhere on the west cost available to move to my squadron.

On the plan of the day, it had a section where each Chief in Charge of a department was listed. It always seemed strange to look down and see all were E-7 chiefs, except me would say Air Terminal Chief----my name AB4.

[BoredRestless]

I can do the job of my employees because I was promoted out of their position. I think my boss could cover for me and do just fine but he probably would hate it hahaha. That's unlikely to happen because I have an assistant manager who cover "up" when I am out.

[Cavi Mike]

It seems the larger the company, the less my boss knows my job. When I worked for GM - holy crap - he didn't even know what my machines were let alone how to operate them. The small shop I work at now; the guy is a friggin' genius and definitely knows how to do my job - and better than pretty much everyone on the floor.

[Girl]

Yes, my boss could do my job. But what takes me 1 hour to do would take her 4-5 hours because she is not as tech savvy as I am. So she has me do the work that slows her down so that she can do the work she does BEST.

Conversely, I could never do her job (meaning the things she does best).

[macroy]

In this job, Yes.
in most other jobs I've had, no.

Obviously, this is very dependent on the position, nature of the role, and the employee/manager's background.

A CEO is unlikely able to do the jobs of his CIO, CFO, COO, CMO etc. If anything, s/he may be able to handle one of those jobs based on their career/background.

For me, I'm a CIO (My CEO was the CIO), with a background in networking/security. So I'm definitely more in-tune to my network/security managers vs. my development/application managers. However, this doesn't necessarily mean I'm less effective in supporting my development group. In fact, I sometimes catch myself scrutinizing the networking/security decisions more - simply because I can.

[Hemlock140]

I'm a manager that was promoted, so yes, I know how to do the work of my subordinates, and in fact, train new ones. My boss has no clue how to do any of our jobs, but as a director, doesn't have to. The responsibilities are for big picture work, such as business plans, departmental budget, and long range planning.

[reneeh63]

Originally Posted by Shorty458

Hello

At my current job, my direct manager/supervisor doesn't know how to do my job. He of course knows what I do and some of what I do. Great guy... don't get me wrong. Very fair, etc. So, it has nothing to do w/ him. Of course, since he is a manager - I know he has a lot going on.

However, my previous jobs - my direct manager/supervisor did know how to do my job. If I needed a day off, etc - they could cover and do all the details of my job. So, this is newer to me!

I was just curious - if you were unable to make it in, would your supervisor know how to do your daily tasks? Or, if you are a supervisor do you know how to do your employee tasks?

Originally Posted by fishbrains

I am a supervisor, and I do not know how to do most of my direct report's jobs. I can do some aspects of some of their jobs, but I don't have the technical expertise, experience, or knowledge of specific procedures to actually do the jobs. With that being said, I know what they do, and what is necessary to help them gat the job done.

I don't need to though. They do a variety of different things, and I hired them because they know how to do their jobs.

Let's look at this a different way. Do you think that the president of a hospital knows how to do everybody's job? Can s/he do brain surgery, liver surgery, deliver babies, run the boiler plant, create billings, prepare financial statements, and cook bland but nutritious meals for hundreds?

No, nor would we expect anybody to do so. That is why we have people report up the hierarchy. The expectation that a supervisor can do the jobs of those under him/her is ridiculous.

Originally Posted by reneeh63

I'm not saying the CEO needs to know how to do every job...or even an AVP. But a first-line manager should have much more intimate knowledge of what their team does. First line managers don't get to be completely hands off and "fly at 10,000 feet". They DO have to get their hands a little dirty and if they aren't capable of that there will be problems. BIG difference between a manager and a CEO...and they should not forget it.

Originally Posted by fishbrains

.....
Great, but you are now qualifying the OP. It didn't specify whether the manager was an executive or a frontline manager. I will agree with you that frontline managers should know most of what their subordinates do. In my particular case, I have technical specialists and frontline managers report to me. it would take me decades to gain the technical credentials of all the people who report to me, and many more years to learn all of the administrative duties they deal with. By the time I amassed the schooling necessary to match their minimum qualifications, technological advances would have rendered much of that knowledge obsolete.

Uh yes - the OP specifically said he was talking about his direct manager. The further removed from the work the more important are "big picture" and true managerial/executive skills. But if you don't even understand what your direct reports are doing then that's a problem. I've had managers that didn't even understand CONCEPTUALLY what I was doing...talk about clueless.

[RJ312]

Yes

[fishbrains]

Originally Posted by reneeh63

Uh yes - the OP specifically said he was talking about his direct manager. The further removed from the work the more important are "big picture" and true managerial/executive skills. But if you don't even understand what your direct reports are doing then that's a problem. I've had managers that didn't even understand CONCEPTUALLY what I was doing...talk about clueless.

A person's direct manager might be an executive.

At any rate, we are starting to get into semantics which are threatening to derail the thread.

I agree that managers should have a basis for understanding the job concepts of those under them, and should be able to have an intelligent discussion about the requirements of a job, even if they don't know the details. Going back to one of my earlier examples, the guy running a motor pool might have mechanics report to him. He doesn't need to be a diesel machinists, but he should have an idea of the time, tools, equipment, and labor required to do the job.

[DorianRo]

The best bosses I have found were the ones with in depth knowledge of the tasks the employees do under them. The worst have always been the completely clueless ones that do not understand anyone's job functions or how to do it. And the places with these types of bosses either usually don't last, never grow, horrible turnover, or with a constant revolving door of **** poor management. Generally these types of workplaces are havens for nepotism/cronyism which has declining results, poor morale etc