Manager

Our previous manager was a 50-ish white guy with a super chill, hands-off style. He trusted us to do our jobs, didn’t micromanage, and only stepped in when we actually needed help. It felt like he didn’t need to prove himself. He treated us like adults and genuinely cared about the team. Unfortunately, he moved out of state.

Now we have a new manager, she wants to be involved in every single step of everything and insists on being CC’d on every email, even routine ones we’ve been sending for years. She constantly wants to be “in the middle” of everything, which has slowed work down instead of helping.

1. been changing nearly every existing process in the name of “streamlining,” but honestly, a lot of it feels like a complete waste of time. Some processes just can’t be streamlined, they exist the way they do for a reason. Instead of improving efficiency, everything now takes longer and feels more complicated.

2. Been in research administration for 20+ years, when you ask her a simple, straightforward question, she often doesn’t even know the answer, and when she does answer, it’s outdated or no longer accurate. On top of that, she doesn’t really listen. You can explain how things currently work, but it doesn’t seem to land, and she just keeps pushing her version anyway.

3. constantly praises other departments and, when there’s pushback from them, she just passes the pressure down to us instead of advocating for our team. (We were told we need to CC her on all emails that we send out everyday so that if other departments apply pressure, she can “push back.” But… that’s not what actually happens. So at this point, what’s even the point of CC’ing her on everything?)

I know change is part of work, but this has been a really hard adjustment, and it’s exhausting. Anyone else been through something like this? Did you adapt, wait it out, or leave?