Invisible Manager

Work has been rough lately. One of our managers left and the new one has been here just a few weeks while everyone is still trying to get used to the one that stated about six months ago. With so many different mixes of personalities and plenty of leaders to go around, there is bound to be confrontation.

Our GM has had her fair share of battles since starting last year. Everyone seems to have something to complain about, something they don't like or don't want to do. I try to stay out of the mix, do my job and call it a day. After getting a pretty bad review the other day, my GM was pretty much at her wits end with what to do. She wasn't her usual smiling self. I don't think anyone else notice. They all seemed to pass by her and not ask if she was o.k. or do anything to show that they had noticed she was having a hard night.

After asking her if she was o.k. she said she was fine. But since I gave myself this challenge, I didn't leave it at that. I didn't want to push the issue that she was having a hard time by her lack of smile, closed off posture and lack of eye contact. Knowing that she would leave that night without anyone acknowledging the signals she was giving away, I wrote her a note that simply said "Don't let tonight get you down. Smile" and left it on her desk. My hopes are that her body language changed and that it was a relief that someone noticed.