Dear Bob ...I read your response to The Perfessor (Handling a boss who works short hours, March 11, 2006). My situation is different: I'm dealing with a new peer in the company. We're both senior managers. He's new, and his core competency appears to be being someplace else - he negotiated a lot of vacation, and even when he's here he's a nine-to-fiver. Oh ... he's also very good at redefining everything that lo Dear Bob …I read your response to The Perfessor (Handling a boss who works short hours, March 11, 2006). My situation is different: I’m dealing with a new peer in the company. We’re both senior managers. He’s new, and his core competency appears to be being someplace else – he negotiated a lot of vacation, and even when he’s here he’s a nine-to-fiver. Oh … he’s also very good at redefining everything that looks like actual work as something my staff and I are supposed to perform for him and his staff.They are, after all, our “internal customers,” and we’re supposed to satisfy our customers, aren’t we? What makes this especially difficult is that the chemistry between me and our mutual boss isn’t relaxed and comfortable, while the two of them hit it off immediately and are good buddies. So whenever there’s conflict, I’m always the one who needs to do things differently.Any advice?– On the short end Dear Shorty …A few thoughts come to mind. One involves a guy named Vito, but pay no attention – it would be unprofessional, and unfairly stereotypes Italians besides.Here’s my first thought: Whatever you decide to do, don’t base it on the hope that either the new manager (let’s call him Peter) or your mutual boss (Brad) will change their attitudes about their work or working relationships. Peter doesn’t see the value in working extra hours now; he won’t in the future either, or at least he won’t as the result of anything you do. Brad seems comfortable playing favorites now; he’ll continue to be comfortable playing favorites in the future, and he’ll continue to choose his favorites based on chemistry instead of performance (you are a strong performer, aren’t you?).Here’s my second thought: Every time you allow Peter to succeed, you’ve allowed him to delegate work to you. That gives him a social promotion and you a social demotion. So don’t let it happen. There’s a pretty good chance this is a game Peter has learned to play and win.What you can do is make sure neither you nor your staff end up as enablers for him and his staff. This will be a difficult line to draw. You don’t want those in your organization to turn it into a silo, with high walls and a persnickety insistence on adhering to the letter of the boundaries defined in the org chart. So don’t draw a line. Just make it clear to your staff that when the work is clearly the responsibility of the other department they’re authorized to empathize about its difficulty without agreeing to help do it. Do the same yourself: When Peter tries to shift responsibilities to you under the guise of being your customer, just say no. You can be more blunt about it than your staff, but don’t cross the line to being emotional and unprofessional. Think suave. Wear your WWCGD bracelet (“What would Cary Grant do?”). Get in the habit of saying, with good humor, “Sounds like you want me to do your job for you. Why would I want to do that?” Just keep smiling as you do.(A possible alternative: Every time Peter asks you to do his work for him, horse-trade instead of saying yes or no. “I can do that for you, Peter, but it will take me ten hours of time I don’t have. Tell you what – I’ll do this if you’ll handle this other thing I don’t have time for and find really annoying anyway. Oh – and if you’ll support my request to hire a couple of additional analysts in the next officer meeting.” Horse-trading maintains your peer relationship.)At some point Brad will probably suggest you change your attitude. This is the magic moment. Be ready for it. Say something like this: “Let me understand what you’re asking me to do. Right now I work 60 hour weeks. Peter works 40 hour weeks. You’re asking me to work a 70 hour week so Peter won’t have to work a 50 hour week? Why would I want to do that? And I really don’t understand why you’d ask me to.” You’ll probably have this conversation several times. It’s entirely possible it will turn into a negative comment on your performance appraisal when that time rolls around (add a written challenge when it does).Oh, and document the requests as they happen, so that if challenged you’re able to tally up the total impact of all the job-shifting.My guess is that you’ve been taught that confrontation is a bad thing. Most of us were. But confrontation, in and of itself, is fine. It’s unpleasant confrontation that’s a problem – not because it’s immoral, but because it inserts anger and frustration into the conversation, and anger and frustration are great ways to reduce the IQ of everyone involved. – Bob Technology Industry