TL;DR Cliffs: New direct boss is absolutely useless. Her decisions make my work even harder. I hate work because of her. I vent to our manager and he tells my direct boss that I don't like working with her. Now I have to have a meeting to work out how we will work better together, even though her being unfit for her job is the issue.
Background: So about a year ago, my direct boss quit. In his absence, I did my job, his job, and the jobs of two other roles that weren't filled – all whilst doing 70-100 hour weeks to get two new enterprise website redevelopments launched. This means, digital project management, digital lead, analytics, reporting, marketing automation/emails.
I asked my C-level manager (my bosses boss) if I should apply for the role. He knocked it back. It took them about 4 months to fill the position and when they did, it was with a 50-something lady who only seems to know paid media. I found out later that my manager didn't want “another you or another of your previous boss, not someone technical, but someone that can implement processes” blah blah.
Now let me tell you, this new “Head of Digital Marketing” doesn't know how to code, doesn't know how to use eloquent/salesforce, doesn't understand any digital concepts, can't use any of the tools, does not understand workflows, etc. She makes agreements with the wider company and then the tasks get to me and I have to ask 20 questions just to understand the “why”” and the background, then I tell her why we shouldn't/can't do what she's agreed to, or even instances where it goes against what our C-level has agreed to. Safe to say I'm holding the place together.
Ever since this boss started, I've been calling out the red flags to my C-level, about how the boss is not digital savvy, makes poor decisions, doesn't include me in any background, etc. It surely annoys him enough, but I hold back a lot of the time, as I don't mean to waste his time.
Yesterday: Anyway, fast forward to yesterday, the boss is ~7 months in and past probation. This means in Australia, they can't fire her, except for serious misconduct or by making her position redundant/restructuring. Anyway, she puts together a couple of tickets and assigns them to me. 2 with poor background, 1 that goes against the C-level and competes with a task we are currently running (that she knows about), and a few others issues. I can't take it anymore, blow up and write to my c-level.
He and I have a zoom meeting where I vent, he basically ignores it, then says the bullshit “You need to diplomatically have a meeting with her and work out how you two will work better together”. I keep telling him that the problem is she is not capable of performing her job and has a huge knowledge gap, and that there is no solution unless I literally do her job PLUS my own, and she gets paid to do nothing. Anyway, we leave the meeting and I am thinking about how I am going to phrase it all to my boss, and what can I actually say that will make a difference.
A couple of hours later, my direct boss calls a meeting with me (zoom) and looks like she's been crying. Says something along the lines of “I feel like a bit of an idiot. In my recent meetings with (c-level), I have been telling him our work relationship is good, were are on a good rhythm, etc, and he tells me that you don't like working with me and apparently have some quite strong views about me. You should set up a meeting where we can discuss this and work out a solution.”
So now my c-level has gone and told my direct boss (his direct subordinate) that I don't like working with her and somehow has expressed to her that my views against her and quite strong (or strongly worded, or whatever was said). The meeting is in 2 days.
Q: What do I even bother to write that would go anywhere? “Hi, seeing as you don't know what you are doing and every decision you make is wrong, could you please just not make decisions and I'll do both our jobs and go back to 100 hour weeks while you get paid well to do nothing”? Help!