Managing people who aren't my direct reports
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I'm having issues managing collaborators on three big projects for our new museum. I'm the lead on each of these projects but the people are all outside of our staff so I am not their supervisor. In fact, they are all in more prominent positions than me in their own field, and they seem to be having trouble understanding the authority of a silly little planetarium manager. They aren't even in positions of reporting to anyone above me. It's causing me a lot of stress right now, because it is impacting my ability to get things done--either because they are not delivering, or they are causing conflict because they don't like the way things are being done.
I know this is a common issue--many of you have probably dealt with it, but it's new to me. A couple are really frustrating because they seem to not be respecting that I am the ultimate decision maker, and are trying to go above me. I keep my superiors aware of what's going on and fortunately they have my back. My personality is that I would prefer to pass it along to them to take care of, but for my career's sake I need to take care of it myself. I also have to stay faithful to my organization, even if I at times agree with my collaborators. If their concerns were detrimental to our overall success I would speak up. But their issues are mainly things that could make us better if they were addressed, but we as an organization don't have the capacity to undertake now. Sometimes, things just are out of our control or we have to prioritize other issues.
![mad :scream:](./images/smilies/screaming.gif)
I know this is a common issue--many of you have probably dealt with it, but it's new to me. A couple are really frustrating because they seem to not be respecting that I am the ultimate decision maker, and are trying to go above me. I keep my superiors aware of what's going on and fortunately they have my back. My personality is that I would prefer to pass it along to them to take care of, but for my career's sake I need to take care of it myself. I also have to stay faithful to my organization, even if I at times agree with my collaborators. If their concerns were detrimental to our overall success I would speak up. But their issues are mainly things that could make us better if they were addressed, but we as an organization don't have the capacity to undertake now. Sometimes, things just are out of our control or we have to prioritize other issues.
![mad :scream:](./images/smilies/screaming.gif)