Hi Nancy,

Thanks for reaching out. I have sent your question over to our coaches, who will be in touch soon. In the meantime, I would recommend checking out the section for coworkers on our website: http://www.cancerandcareers.org/en/coworkers and When Your Boss Has Cancer: http://www.cancerandcareers.org/en/coworkers/When-Your-Boss-Has-Cancer

I hope this is helpful and please let us know if you have more questions.

Best,

Sarah, Program Manager, Cancer and Careers

Hi Nancy,

This is such a tough situation, and a delicate balance between the needs of your SVP and the needs of the team and the company. While we wait for a coach to weigh in with some thoughts I thought I'd send along some additional questions to see if we can't come up with a plan for how you can move forward.

Could someone discuss this directly with him, not the cancer but the work-related challenges in order to find solutions? Is he even coming to work? Or what about discussing the practical issues that have come up with the President or someone else on the senior staff? In either scenario the approach would definitely need to be delicate and focused on wanting to be supportive and making sure that nothing falls through the cracks rather than pointing fingers or taking issue. It would also help in either conversation for the rest of you to have come up with some ideas that might help keep everyone's work moving forward, offers of places where other team members can step in, etc. Perhaps someone could call the people externally to simply reassure them that everything is fine without giving away any private information. Ultimately, you just want to be clear that you have the best interests of both the SVP and the company in mind, and that above all you want to respect his privacy.

Best,
Rebecca 

Rebecca V. Nellis
Chief Mission Officer
Cancer and Careers 

Hi, Nancy,   

I commend you for thinking this through and reaching out to Cancer and Careers for some guidance in this delicate situation.   I concur with Rebecca and Sarah that your SVP's privacy is of utmost importance.  However, I know how important it is to maintain workflow and to be able to smoothly handle inquiries from customers and business colleagues both inside and outside of your office - so taking some action is important, too.

In this situation, depending on your own position, your relationship with the SVP, the other senior staff members,  and the  President, you may want to set up a time to specifically strategize on the way ahead.   I would recommend doing so with the President or his designee, rather than approaching the SVP at this time- and then allowing the President or his designee to approach the SVP for agreement once some solutions are in place.   If your firm is large enough to have an HR representative, it is a good idea to involve that individual or one of the HR folks at this time, too. Although no one will be able to directly address the SVPs health with you, they WILL be able to help think through how to put work-arounds in place until the situation is resolved.

When requesting the meeting, couch your approach by stating that you and your co-workers have the utmost respect for the SVP and his privacy, and therefore are seeking guidance on how to manage the issues that are now arising in his absence so that work can continue seamlessly and he can be relieved of any concern about workflow while he is out.   Then list the issues briefly.   These may include a temporary work around for approval signatures, the appropriate phrases to use or a contact to refer questioners to when responding to an inquiry about the SVP's health, a contact person who may be able to update the team on changes as they occur so that they can step into the breach as work duties may become less of a focus for the SVP, any shifts in responsibility and authority during his treatment and recovery.  Only you and your co-workers know what specifics are causing the bottlenecks and angst in the ranks and customers, so think these through carefully before you make your approach.

Once in the meeting, share your concerns and potential work-arounds that you and the team have thought of to provide support. As Rebecca cautioned, be sure that your approach is thoughtful and respectful, and comes from a place of problem-solving and solution building.    You may even feel it best to clearly state that you only have concern for the SVP and the best interests of the company in mind.  Then work with those in the meeting to address and arrive at solutions to each issue.   If the meeting is successful, you will have several changes that may need to be implemented.   However, the President or his designee will need to take the lead in conveying the authority to others to make any potential shifts in responsibilities. Once the decisions are made on the appropriate courses of action, it will be important that the these temporary shifts in responsibility are communicated clearly to the stakeholders so that those assuming new duties can properly carry them out. As long as others know that the changes are in place to keep things running smoothly, internal talk will most likely die down.

As you read through the Cancer and Careers materials, I am sure that you have come across the notion that the individual in treatment and recovery has many choices to make in how they wish to communicate in the workplace about their illness.   It sounds like the SVP in this case, has chosen a definite path of discretion, perhaps out of concern for the firm, as well has his own privacy.   With that understanding, it is imperative that co-workers support and maintain this discretion also.  But, talking about workflow issues and seeking guidance on language and strategy in the interim is definitely not a violation of privacy... it is just smart, and will serve the SVP far better than letting these concerns grow unanswered.

Do seek out the resources that Rebecca and Sarah have offered, and continue to keep your colleague's best interests in mind as you work out solutions, and I am certain that you will be instrumental in easing the workplace burden for all involved.

Wishing your the very best,

Kathy Flora, Career Coach