One has to be careful w/ formal communication, especially with getting the intended tone of the message across, otherwise you would be misunderstood.

Why didn't u attach the mail sent to him, instead of using ur own words. Weldone!

Raphael007:
Hello good day OP, I guess you where to direct and since you know he is your boss you probably should have chosen your words carefully, and also hit the nail on the head without sounding rude. My advice write him a short mail and apologize for the way you addresed the first mail that you where under alot of stress, Do not say pressure as that is one of those things that is supposed to make you better even in decision making that's one of the reason you where employed anyways.

while your advice is good, l think, as someone who has managed a lot of people in an environment where "Yes Sir" is the only reply you expect from surbodinates, We also appreciate "Juniors who can speak the truth, uncoated and direct".

Infact, if l want to feel the real impulse of my 'Boys' l have about three lower ranks that l invite over to my office and tell them to "take it easy and speak freely off record".
That is the only timel really get to know what exactly is going-on in everyone's mind and l cherish those moments because they have saved a lot of situation, ebven life-threatening situation.

So, while decorum and diplomacy are good/standard practice, a good Boss, who is worth his rank and sure of himself, should not take too much offense at being called out, especially when you know you are guilty of what is said.

But then, disrespecting your Boss is a No-No, for me.

MrBigiman:
Why didn't u attach the mail sent to him, instead of using ur own words. Weldone!

Eaxctly!

Like:

"Sir, please find attached, for your information and action".
Yours faithfully,
XYZ

Call him on phone and apologise, not mail this time. U can also beg ur direct boss to approach him for u

@OP, please don't send another mail to him for now. I will advise you go to his office and apologize to him in person, from there you can form a new bond. Going forward before you forward a mail to your superior, always water it down and still pass your message. You don't need to resign. It is one of the things you need to learn from as you are growing up the ladder.

Daboomb:


Eaxctly!

Like:

"Sir, please find attached, for your information and action".
Yours faithfully,
XYZ

Yeah d OP is definitely a saucy person and it must catch up with him excepts he repents. I have been seeing such where I work and all I do is simple forward the message and write find attached.

COdeGenesis:
Help -one Of My Bosses Said I Should Never Send Him A Mail Again


I am currently in deep shit. I happen to work as an analyst with the overall manager of a company in Kaduna . I am a data guy and not really a Manger,not interested in being one either. Today, We needed information from the branch managers,3 of them to be precise. I was tasked with
ensuring they send the information on time.

I got a mail from the Regional office threatening to carry out disciplinary action if they didnt send the information. From the mail I got to find out our State is the only one that hasnt sent theirs.

So I sent a reminder to the Branch Managers requesting urgently for the said inputs, I told them the delay was becoming quite embarassing to the state and we need to send this information out urgently.

To my surprise a branch manager called me and clearly told me I shouldnt send him such mails again, he said I insulted his office and I can tell my boss what he said.

Fellas, Nairalanders, this is frustrating, i know I have issues with the way I dish out mails and I always sound too straight forward.

I feel like resigning, maybe it's not really my thing. I need advice on how to handle this issue before they probably gang up against me.

Someone help me push to FP

Your mail was direct and most probably authoritative.. your boss should also have not asked you to do such ,he should have done it Himself .I personally would have done what the man did but via mail
You should write a mail apologizing to all and inform them that it was not your intention to come off as disrespectful
You should also have attached the mail sent to your office on the report which stated you would face disciplinary action for their notice ,then plead with them .

AntiWailer:


See u need to learn a lot.

That is why a lot of careers are stagnant.

That he is not your direct line manager does not make him less influential in determining your destiny in the organization.

You will not be there when u are to be roasted. Your line manager and managers in his cadre will be there.

When the organization want to downsize, The decision will not be left to his manager alone cos of emotional attachment and sentiment.

When u work in a big organization where moderation is done, u will understand this better.

I am not talking about 1 man company with MD next door.

when they want to downsize, most times, if your direct managers knows his stand, you are going nowhere. It's about your works. Tell me who will stay between a subordinate that brings in 10 new customers or increases revenue by 50 percent and a boss that only does his managerial duties with no new businesses. I am not talking about one man company either. It's about your works, colleagues and managers. The man can't do nothing if the guy is good at what he is doing except if it's a one man's business. No one will send an employee away because one line manager finds a mail an insult to his position! Failures and mistakes are there for us to learn and that he has but not that he will be seen as incompetent.

Oh

majekdom2:
when they want to downsize, most times, if your direct managers knows his stand, you are going nowhere. It's about your works. Tell me who will stay between a subordinate that brings in 10 new customers or increases revenue by 50 percent and a boss that only does his managerial duties with no new businesses. I am not talking about one man company either. It's about your works, colleagues and managers. The man can't do nothing if the guy is good at what he is doing except if it's a one man's business. No one will send an employee away because one line manager finds a mail an insult to his position! Failures and mistakes are there for us to learn and that he has but not that he will be seen as incompetent.

I have been in the corporate world for more than 11 years across several major sectors.

I have seen VERY GOOD AND INTELLIGENT people without sense hurt badly.

You have to be balanced.

The "No 1 rule of 48 Laws of Power " stays

Sending mails rudely to your Seniors is not Excusable.

The bolded is funny . I guess you are still climbing the ladder and that is why you think Managerial duties is fried rice.

When you are very good, add sense and you will climb fast.

COdeGenesis:
Help -one Of My Bosses Said I Should Never Send Him A Mail Again


I am currently in deep shit. I happen to work as an analyst with the overall manager of a company in Kaduna . I am a data guy and not really a Manger,not interested in being one either. Today, We needed information from the branch managers,3 of them to be precise. I was tasked with
ensuring they send the information on time.

I got a mail from the Regional office threatening to carry out disciplinary action if they didnt send the information. From the mail I got to find out our State is the only one that hasnt sent theirs.

So I sent a reminder to the Branch Managers requesting urgently for the said inputs, I told them the delay was becoming quite embarassing to the state and we need to send this information out urgently.

To my surprise a branch manager called me and clearly told me I shouldnt send him such mails again, he said I insulted his office and I can tell my boss what he said.

Fellas, Nairalanders, this is frustrating, i know I have issues with the way I dish out mails and I always sound too straight forward.

I feel like resigning, maybe it's not really my thing. I need advice on how to handle this issue before they probably gang up against me.

Someone help me push to FP

Bros,

Wisdom is required in all things. You are making damn big mistakes on many fronts and you run the risk of getting fired. Let me start by asking why bring this to NL? don't you know it may threaten your job if someone picks this up and show this manager or even your manager? Except you can cover your track very well, companies frown at having their issues on social media.

Secondly, if you used this phrase in the said email,

told them the delay was becoming quite embarassing to the state

, then I'm afraid you have over-stepped your limits. You don't make simple and silly mistakes like this, telling a "superior officer" that his actions are embarassing and you expect him/her to take it? Many of you young lad/lasses needs to learn comportment or else you get fried in the corporate environment.

A simple thing that you would have done that would have saved you all this needless back-fire is to have asked your boss to send the reminder. Even him will not have used the word "embarrassing"

AntiWailer:


I have been in the corporate world for more than 11 years across several major sectors.

I have seen VERY GOOD AND INTELLIGENT people without sense hurt badly.

You have to be balanced.

The "No 1 rule of 48 Laws of Power " stays

Sending mails rudely to your Seniors is not Excusable.

The bolded is funny . I guess you are still climbing the ladder and that is why you think Managerial duties is fried rice.

When you are very good, add sense and you will climb fast.

there is no perfect one. People learn on the job. The young man has realised his mistake. A Good leader will know it's a mistake and he has chosen to correct him in his way by approaching him. Yes, I tell you no one will sack a competent subordinates who is responsible for inflows because a boss finds a mail an insult. Context and content is what it is here. I have been in a similar situation, I was on the field with the partner company as a subordinate. In my training, Updates are to be sent almost every 6 hours. 24 hrs after we arrived location, the guy leading the job refused to send an update through to his company and mine.I sent a mail briefing my office about the status of the job. My country manager replied with him and his company people in copy, his own country manager called and said why did I have to send a mail through without him being aware. The man approached me and was angry. I was like this is just a job status update, it's not like I was trying to be smart but how I was trained. He called his country manager and explained... case solved. Point is, I have always known his country manager to be cocky. He takes offence in every mail and he is the type that sees mails as "insult to his office". No one is above mistake, I apologised and yea, I still worked with the guy some later time. If you go through my earlier post you will see where I said he doesn't have to fear, he should apologise and do mails with caution. Only a silly boss will hold that grudge a long time

KingsleyCEO:
You must be careful when relating between two super power (bosses) if not you will incur wrath and neither will be willing to save you. And your choice of word is also very keen. I have been told by my regional manager to tell my immediate boss stuff that I am not too comfortable with but I kept it to myself only for my RM to still come around to ask my BM if I delivered such and BM turned to me and I simply said I forgot to pass the message. Right there and then the RM passed his message after which my BM understood the reason I forgot.

Bros,

You belong to the categories of wise men that the Yorubas call " a ran omo ni ise eru, o fi ti omo je". Let me also share a story about a collegue some years ago. She had issues with a wicked direct boss. She was impatient and decided to take her on. She invoked a clause that staff use to address discriminatory/unfair/intimidation etc treatment. A committee was set up to look into her case. Guess who were the panel? Other managers, except the wicked boss. Guess the outcome of the case? This my collegue was declared guilty, accused of making a mountain out of a mole-hill and she was given a warning letter

When a common friend related the story to me, I simply told her that she went into a battle she had lost right from the get-to-go. Except she had a concrete/tangible evidence (which she did not), you cannot accuse your boss of intimidation and hope to win. I also told the common friend that the composition of the panel spoke volumes. Even though most of the panel members do not like the wicked boss, I reasoned that they still ruled in her favour to protect themselves. I imagined they had reasoned that if they ruled in favour of the subordinate, then they have open a flood-gate as other staff members who had issues with their managers will also start protesting, calling for a panel review.

This affected lady most likely took many of the good advise we colleagues gave her - essentially, "be patient", "manage your boss", "bid your time", "do a damn good job","court other boses and build networks". Guess what is the situation today? The wicked boss left (infact word was that she heard she was about to be laid off, so took a face-saving measure) and this our colleague was elevated and is now in the position.

Many of you young lads needs to learn comportment.

Adadioranma79:
Today, We needed information from the branch managers,3 of them to be precise. I was tasked with
ensuring they send the information on time

Since you know why the information was urgently needed and prolly have the idea of what the information shud have included, noticing your managers werent responding and it was going to have consequences, all you had to do was draft the mail, send to your managers for final scrutiny and approval, then they can forward the mail as theirs. All it wud have caused you was the same time and energy you used in sending the rude mail to your superiors. You wud have felt better and more appreciated knowiing you saved the branch some embarrassment. It doesnt require much to be more, shows good initiative and responsibility. Thats how promotion comes dear. Best of luck.

I learnt a bitter lesson too back in the days (almost 10yrs ago) when I worked in IT. We were on some very interesting and "strategic" projects, and I was lead on virtually all of them. I had as boss, the HOD, but as lead I was the face of the project, especially when we needed to make presentations to management. I had good presentations skills to match, and coupled with the fact that I had a weekend job as a facilitator in an institution which prepared people for professional exams.

I noticed that during my presentations, my manager was always interrupting me. Some times, he will tell management "what he is trying to say is........." or sometimes he will ask me to pause and say "Let me explain that part better". To cap it all, he messed up my appraisal by awarding me "average" on presentation skills. Now let me also add some perspective to this. I was selected as part of the "egg-heads" in the organisation and we were sent to what we call "Leadership Academy" (I'm sure some people have this in their organisation or gone through variant of it). For us, this is where future managers a "backed and cooked". In the Academy, I was nominated as the best in presentation skills and was the "presenter" for the team......yet my own manager rated me "average" on presentation skills. Besides, these were some of the many things I was going through with him. He knew how to "use" me to get accolades, yet he also had a penchant for keeping me in "my place". I remember another situation where I was about to leave office for a class, so I went to seek his permission. He told me I cannot go, that we had a presentation for the MD and he wanted me to attend. This was on a project that I was not involved in. I only discovered afterwards that he made sure I attended due to my capability to handle the "top" in terms of answering technical and business oriented questions.

So I shared my "challenge" with a friend. We both came to the conclusion that as at then " I was outshining the master". I wised up sharp-sharp. The next presentation came. I was to present. I got up and told management about a challenge we were currently witnessing on the projetct, but they should rest assuredly know that we were on top of it, especially that our Manager brought his experience and leadership to bear by guiding us on how to solve such problems. During the presentation, I made sure that on three occassion, I related the success in milestones to my Manager. That was the first time I had a presentation that my manager did not say "Pim". He did not interrupt. I made the presentation slightly about him.

Long story short. We delivered the project (Phases 1,2,3). I was moved from IT, to corporate office and told that they are putting me in a business facing role (that was good bye to IT). I served a GM for 7years and I did with wisdom. I don't speak in meetings unless he gave me permission. I attended virtually all meeting with him (we are quite close) including strategy retreat overseas, yet I pass my suggestions to him on pieces of paper during meetings. I compose emails, send it to him for review and we now use his email address to send it out to the whole corporation. I was given other side assignment, which management don't inform him. Sometimes I will tell him informally and say "between us"........My GM is retired and I am currently in acting capacity.

My charge to young ones......pls be wise. Don't rush into battles you were program to loose. Patience and comportment is key

mapet:


Bros,

You belong to the categories of wise men that the Yorubas call " a ran omo ni ise eru, o fi ti omo je". Let me also share a story about a collegue some years ago. She had issues with a wicked direct boss. She was impatient and decided to take her on. She invoked a clause that staff use to address discriminatory/unfair/intimidation etc treatment. A committee was set up to look into her case. Guess who were the panel? Other managers, except the wicked boss. Guess the outcome of the case? This my collegue was declared guilty, accused of making a mountain out of a mole-hill and she was given a warning letter

When a common friend related the story to me, I simply told her that she went into a battle she had lost right from the get-to-go. Except she had a concrete/tangible evidence (which she did not), you cannot accuse your boss of intimidation and hope to win. I also told the common friend that the composition of the panel spoke volumes. Even though most of the panel members do not like the wicked boss, I reasoned that they still ruled in her favour to protect themselves. I imagined they had reasoned that if they ruled in favour of the subordinate, then they have open a flood-gate as other staff members who had issues with their managers will also start protesting, calling for a panel review.

This state most likely took many of the good advise we collegues gave her - essentiall, "be patient", "manage your boss", "bid your time", "do a damn good job","court other boses and build networks". Guess what is the situation today? The wicked boss left (infact word was that she heard she was about to be laid off, so took a face-saving measure) and this our collegue was elevated and is now in the position.

Many of you young lads needs to learn comportment.

" a ran omo ni ise eru, o fi ti omo je"
I had to ask my colleague for the meaning, believe me, it meaning is heavy. Thanks a million.

AntiWailer:

majekdom2: :
when they want to downsize, most times, if your direct managers knows his stand, you are going nowhere. It's about your works. Tell me who will stay between a subordinate that brings in 10 new customers or increases revenue by 50 percent and a boss that only does his managerial duties with no new businesses. I am not talking about one man company either. It's about your works, colleagues and managers. The man can't do nothing if the guy is good at what he is doing except if it's a one man's business. No one will send an employee away because one line manager finds a mail an insult to his position! Failures and mistakes are there for us to learn and that he has but not that he will be seen as incompetent.

I have been in the corporate world for more than 11 years across several major sectors.

I have seen VERY GOOD AND INTELLIGENT people without sense hurt badly.

You have to be balanced.

The "No 1 rule of 48 Laws of Power " stays

Sending mails rudely to your Seniors is not Excusable.

The bolded is funny . I guess you are still climbing the ladder and that is why you think Managerial duties is fried rice.

When you are very good, add sense and you will climb fast.

Can I also add that many young folks have this erroneous impression that managers are there by luck and not that they actually paid their dues. Secondly many of these young folks think management look at issues through the prism of the young folks?

I have seen brilliant folks get roasted, simply because they are "BRILLIANT". The corporate world is a battle ground. A lot comes into survival and "doing your job" is not just the only thing

mapet:


Can I also add that many young folks have this erroneous impression that managers are there by luck and not that they actually paid their dues. Secondly many of these young folks think management look at issues through the prism of the young folks?

I have seen brilliant folks get roasted, simply because they are "BRILLIANT". The corporate world is a battle ground. A lot comes into survival and "doing your job" is not just the only thing

Thank you jare.

majekdom2:
there is no perfect one. People learn on the job. The young man has realised his mistake. A Good leader will know it's a mistake and he has chosen to correct him in his way by approaching him. Yes, I tell you no one will sack a competent subordinates who is responsible for inflows because a boss finds a mail an insult. Context and content is what it is here. I have been in a similar situation, I was on the field with the partner company as a subordinate. In my training, Updates are to be sent almost every 6 hours. 24 hrs after we arrived location, the guy leading the job refused to send an update through to his company and mine.I sent a mail briefing my office about the status of the job. My country manager replied with him and his company people in copy, his own country manager called and said why did I have to send a mail through without him being aware. The man approached me and was angry. I was like this is just a job status update, it's not like I was trying to be smart but how I was trained. He called his country manager and explained... case solved. Point is, I have always known his country manager to be cocky. He takes offence in every mail and he is the type that sees mails as "insult to his office". No one is above mistake, I apologised and yea, I still worked with the guy some later time. If you go through my earlier post you will see where I said he doesn't have to fear, he should apologise and do mails with caution. Only a silly boss will hold that grudge a long time

I simply addressed those who feel it is fight to finish with your boss.

Read within that context.

I have seen where the ONLY EXPERT in a particular sensitive section of an organization was FIRED.

It came as a shock even to the guy because apart from being good at his job, he is the ONLY one available.

He was FIRED and the organization is still in business.

mapet:


My charge to young ones......pls be wise. Don't rush into battles you were program to loose. Patience and comportment is key

Nice one.

You will survive any Manager with that approach.

I hope these kids learn fast.

Daboomb:


while your advice is good, l think, as someone who has managed a lot of people in an environment where "Yes Sir" is the only reply you expect from surbodinates, We also appreciate "Juniors who can speak the truth, uncoated and direct".

Infact, if l want to feel the real impulse of my 'Boys' l have about three lower ranks that l invite over to my office and tell them to "take it easy and speak freely off record".
That is the only timel really get to know what exactly is going-on in everyone's mind and l cherish those moments because they have saved a lot of situation, ebven life-threatening situation.

So, while decorum and diplomacy are good/standard practice, a good Boss, who is worth his rank and sure of himself, should not take too much offense at being called out, especially when you know you are guilty of what is said.

But then, disrespecting your Boss is a No-No, for me.

I am not saying he should be an Asslicker no, but what you don't do is copy your superiors in a very disrespectful mail, do you know what that means it's mean the boss is not in control of his work environment, and that been said I hope you know what a boss means, I hope you have read 48 laws of power and it's stated do not outshine your masters. What the young man was doing was covering his ass incase it's get bact to him, but you won't blame him knowing some bosses are very lazy and even take credit for your work bUT there are ways to handle such situations thank you and have a good day sir.

lilfreezy:
Nairaland topics

"My Boss Said I Should Never Send Him A Mail Again, Help! "

" My wife said i don't give her good orgasm, help!"

chai! My belle o! Hahahaha

mamawin:
Very useful points, but why 'where' instead of 'were'? Please note

Thank you very much, you are very detailed I was in a bit of a rush but that is no excuse that isn't the only mistake, and that is always my problem I Dnt always have the time to proofread.

This almost happened to me too but, with advise from other senior colleagues I was able to overcome it. Since he didn't make the threat in an official manner you may either ignore it or send him a text from your line to him(not in an official mail trail or chatting using office chatting software oooo) Wisdom is profitable to direct.

Raphael007:


Thank you very much, you are very detailed I was in a bit of a rush but that is no excuse that isn't the only mistake, and that is always my problem I Dnt always have the time to proofread.

proofreading? you're not alone

KingsleyCEO:
You must be careful when relating between two super power (bosses) if not you will incur wrath and neither will be willing to save you. And your choice of word is also very keen. I have been told by my regional manager to tell my immediate boss stuff that I am not too comfortable with but I kept it to myself only for my RM to still come around to ask my BM if I delivered such and BM turned to me and I simply said I forgot to pass the message. Right there and then the RM passed his message after which my BM understood the reason I forgot.

Office Politics 101. The OP needs to realise how to establish rapport across board. There is a way you can phrase your words that the Branch Manager will jump up to assist you to get the info that you want.

Another thing the OP can do is to find out which of the Branch manager's subordinates has access to the data and info, that he requires. Once he gets that person's name and number, all he needs to do is place a call through to the guy, and tell him that "Ol' boy, na your colleague dey here - abeg, I need your help. I don't want your dept or BM to look bad, and at the same time I don't want any of us to get into trouble. Please help me get this info. The HQ guys are breathing down my neck. Can you assist to send down the data/info that is required within the next 48 hours?" Simple.

You win the chap over to your side, and he goes out to help you, while he also notifies his BM that he has managed a potentially sticky situation, on the dept's behalf. After doing all this groundwork, the OP can then send an e-mail to the Branch Manager/BM, a few hours later, requesting for the info, by saying that he understands they have a very heavy workload, but can he spare time to get his subordinate Mr. X to assist? He praises the BM's dept as really proactive and responsive, and says he would not want the HQ guys to get a wrong impression, if the data/info does not come through in time.

Finally, he thanks the BM very well for his anticipated cooperation. That way, the OP gets the BM to put pressure on Mr. X to deliver the goods, and Mr. X does not have to justify to his boss, why he is helping the OP to get the info. Win-win situation all around! It is called managing your stakeholders!

cc: COdeGenesis

AntiWailer:
Yes .

Any body can confront his line manager if it is a useless job.

A job that your line manager can inform the MD is definitely a one man business.

Try that nonsense in a big corporate organization. He will write that they move u to another department and u might float until u get sacked..

When u get your dream job, confront and get queries.

Not only will they move you, the head of that new dept where you have been posted to, might conspire with him to make your life miserable. Office Politics 102: Be careful who you antagonise, if you want to walk away unscathed. If you offend the wrong person who has a lot of clout within the organisation, your career might end up in corporate Siberia....

jeronimo:
First of all you were only a messenger and you had to pass a message. The problem I think may have been the way you composed the mail. Next time forward the message as sent from your regional manager then start with " as requested in the mail below....".

Then subsequent reminders should include previous mail in the trail.

Don't forget to use words like "kindly", "gentle reminder", "thanks in anticipation", etc I mean try to be a polite as possible even if you are sending it to subordinate.

Don't think of resigning it's part of growing up in the corporate world. Hope this helps. Cheers

400billionman:
Learn how to be diplomatic.

Use office terminology which means something, but sounds another thing.

Since the regional head is tasking you for reports from 3 of your superiors, the burden is not on YOU, but on the 3 BRANCH MANAGERS. It is not your father's job, and it is not EMBARRASSING like you stated. You sounded frustrated with your choice of words, so they will help you frustrate yourself.

Next time, FORWARD the originating mail from the Regional Manager to the 3 branch managers and COPY the Regional Manager.

Stating, " Sirs, the above mail is for your advice or For your input or For your information "

Then go and sleep..

If the regional manager sends a reminder, forward the reminder to the 3 managers and copy the regional head again.. thats ur work.

If you put yourself on the line, they will use you and shine. Just ensure the regional head knows you are forwarding his mails to them by copying him. Thats all. If he didn't send a mail, demand a mail.

Very well said! You guys hit the nail on the head. Best advice so far!