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Between A Rock And A Hard Place: The Servant of Two Masters Conundrum
Have you ever found yourself playing ‘the servant of two masters’?
Most of us have, at some point in our career.
It’s that time when someone gives you a task to do, and then somebody else butts in and says they want it done another way, or you’re working on a project and reporting to one manager, and another manager says the whole thing’s wrong and you’re not giving them what they wanted.
Whatever the circumstances might be, when you’re trapped in the middle of a miscommunication between two (or more) of your superiors, and you’re the one who’s expected to do the work and keep everybody satisfied, playing the servant of two masters is an unpleasant place to be.
One of my clients is in that place right now. Maybe his experience will ring some bells?
My client is a freelancer who was hired to do some work for a UK company. The manager who hired him and who my client reports to says he’s happy with the work my client’s producing. In fact, there’s been no negative feedback at all. But then, a few weeks ago, my client was asked to attend a Zoom meeting with a manager in the US, where the parent company is based. To my client’s surprise, the US manager told him that everything he’d produced was totally wrong and none of it was in…
