Anyone been “layered”?

I’ve been head of my dept - large, global team - for a few yrs. Been going really well, we’ve achieved a lot and I get great feedback from my peers, boss, etc. My manager, a senior exec, just told me a few weeks ago he’s putting in a layer between my role and his job, and I’ll report to that person. Technically I’m no longer Head of my area bc that will be my new boss’s job. Just feeling anxious and disappointed to be layered, my pride has taken a hit. Any advice?

Be vocal and ask if there is a possibility of being considered for this position.

If they proceed to hire externally, you need to leave.

This happened to me. I established and led a new function for my firm. after two years a new person was brought in over me and one of my reports was promoted to my peer- talk about self doubt. It sucked in the moment, but a few years later I now see the direction the firm was going, and after some self reflection, I didn’t have to chops to scale it the way it needed- but now I have this opportunity to learn from my new boss

This is hard.

This is a great opportunity to take assessment of how you manage and have been managed. How are you reporting to senior execs? Are you having the strategic conversations and then coming back with the results or are you needing more feedback and approvals? It also could be your boss isn't giving real feedback or it's not being received either way they're saying it.

Take it as an opportunity to level up.

I would clarify with your HR partner if you will have a title or compensation change. Also ask for a job description that includes changes as you are being layered.

Two things here you might consider/ ask your boss why he has chosen to go down this route and second ask him for feedback as to the qualities he seeks in the new report - this will give you a new perspective on what skills he is looking for and a chance for you to understand whether there are skills you can work on for the next opportunity.

You have received some great suggestions so far. I will add another to the pile. Consider the impact on your team. You aren't the only one feeling betrayed and anxious. I would schedule some team-building activities, like a change management course and a cognitive bias course. Allow each team member to be heard. Schedule one-on-ones and team listening sessions. Monitor and track team satisfaction. Develop an action plan to implement some of the changes that the team came up with. In other words, show your former boss how they should have implemented and managed the change. And I would get some therapy or use the EAP to manage my feelings of betrayal and disappointment. GL.

I’ve seen this primarily happen when the person at the more senior level has too many direct reports for them to be effective. It happened to my former boss and the result was actually that our team had better visibility with leadership and received better support overall. I know it was a hit to my boss initially but it really was a good change.

This happened to me once. The woman who was put between me and my boss rose from analyst, to manager, to senior manager, to director, to senior director in a span of 3 years. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was having an affair with the boss. Both were married at the time. Years later, he was forced out of his job and they are now married to each other. I liked my new “boss” but decided to leave.

If it’s an internal hire, how was it not posted, why was it not posted, and why were you not able to post for it? This sounds like granted the number of people that they were directly responsible for went down by one position if the gut person can’t handle five peopleand now he’s handling for no I’ve seen people handled more than that plus. Not that it gets done. Well not that that’s not too high of a number, but this almost sounds to me like just because he’s male he got the position.

I’m sorry I’ve never heard that term before. Is this a demotion?

Happened to me years ago with the person inserted being a good friend of my boss the president of the company. Both of them are white males and my boss was named in a lawsuit for sexual misconduct and he stayed on the the person suing was paid off. Both the layering and the lawsuit were the flags for me to leave.

Yes. I was reporting to a CD who became VP CD and then ECD. In that time, I moved from intermediate to senior, and they hired a new CD for us to report to. It’s a bummer but hopefully your new boss is great 🤞

are they preparing to carve out part of the company or buy something?

what is the bigger pic of this restructuring

do you see any lean/6 sigma/simplifying projects started across the organization?

is it very expensive to let ppl go in your country and they push out this way?

This may have nothing to do with you or your position. It may be your boss preparing to make a move.
Be patient sit still trust the process !

How many direct reports does your manager have? Sometimes this happens because they're overloaded with performance reviews, paperwork, etc. and want fewer DRs.