Team lead publicly humiliates employee and tells her to stop "overstepping" after previously expecting her to do her work, then the lead’s boss tells the employee to apply for a new senior job

This employee found herself the target of her lead's wrath, who called her out publicly and humiliated her for the contributions she had been making above her own position. The lead told her to “stop overstepping,” even though she had been quite happy with that overstepping when the employee had been helping her with her own work. But word of this had probably reached the higher-ups, and the lead's reaction was simply an attempt to save face. 

Whatever the reason, it turned out that the employee had been selected for a position that reported directly to the lead's senior-level boss. A position that would put the employee above the lead in seniority. Surely this same “overstepping” had been instrumental to this promotion eventuating. And even though the senior boss said that the lead had recommended the employee herself, the employee had doubts. She shared her thoughts with this online community in a post with her account of the alleged events. See it below, along with some key responses.

My team lead told me to “stop overstepping.” I just got an email from her boss asking why I’m not applying for her job.

Story / Direct_Seaweed5166

I’m a mid-level analyst at a company that’s been slowly restructuring for the last six months. My team lead, let’s call her Dana, has been with the company for nine years and has made it very clear that I’m “not there yet” in terms of seniority.
For the last few months, I’ve been quietly picking up work that technically falls under her remit. Not because I’m gunning for her job—mostly because deadlines were slipping and I didn’t want our department to look bad. I’d flag it to her first. She’d say “thanks” and move on. No pushback, no acknowledgment in team meetings, nothing.

Last week, during a project review, I presented a dashboard I’d built to streamline one of our reporting processes. Dana cut me off halfway through and said, in front of the director and two other leads, that I needed to “stay in my lane” and “stop overstepping into responsibilities that aren’t mine.”

I apologized and moved on. Awkward silence. Whatever.
This morning, I got an email from Dana’s boss, the department head. She asked if I’d be interested in applying for a “newly created senior position” that would report directly to her. She said she’d been impressed with my initiative on the dashboard and that Dana had actually recommended me.

I haven’t responded yet. I’m sitting here staring at the email, trying to figure out if Dana knew about this before she humiliated me in that meeting. Or if her boss is going around her. Or if Dana is now trying to pretend she supported me all along because she knows the decision is out of her hands.

I don’t know what to do. Do I respond to the department head and express interest? Do I ask Dana about it first? Do I just sit on it and see what happens?

One of the most detrimental actions a leader can take within an organization is to instruct someone to stop overstepping their boundaries. This approach raises several important questions: What is the underlying motivation for such a directive? What specific goals are you aiming to achieve?

Often, the justification for this behavior is rooted in factors such as age, experience, or authority, and the expectation that individuals should adhere strictly to seniority. However, this mindset can be counterproductive.

Instead of acting as an immovable barrier, leaders should recognize the potential value in the contributions of those who are eager to contribute and bring fresh perspectives.

By discouraging overstepping, leaders risk stifling creativity and losing the opportunity to benefit from the insights and ideas of a bright and motivated individual.

I maintain that it's the truth that you bring your best and most original ideas to the table when you don't have the experience to back them up. When you're just starting out in your career, you're not bound by how things are and how they were, what process needs to be followed, what expectation needs to be set. Things are fresh and new, and haven't yet been entombed by your own experience, built brick by brick around you. 

As you progress through your career, things like responsibility, accountability, and revenue projections slowly cage you in. Each year you spend working within industry processes and according to expectations, you lose the ability to think outside the box and bring something new. But as new hands join the team, they bring new ideas with them, as you did when you first started.

Embracing their ideas, perspectives, and contributions can lead to growth and success for the organization, fostering an environment where diverse thoughts are welcomed and encouraged. Whereas obstinately shooting them down and telling them to “mind their place” will ensure that the organization is not poised to make the next jump to survive into the future when it becomes necessary.