How can a person who has an enviable skillset and does a great job, avoid being the target of backstabbing of his/her manager, who probably does it because he feels threatened by the knowledge and expertise of that employee? Is becoming a bootlicker really the only way to keep your peace or is there still some right way to do it so that such a person of lesser authority does not get into trouble when the time comes?
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Document everything and draft a narrative of all the events that detail what happened and who said what. Use your outlook calendar and get screen shots that show the meeting dates and times. Have witnesses. Get your work colleagues to give you praise. Anytime someone says "you did such a good job. thanks so much." Say to them "thank you can you send that in a email to my manager."
HR fears the phrase psychologically safe. So say "I do not feel psychologically safe around this person."
"'A's hire 'A's. 'B's hire 'C's." "'C's fire 'A's."
Intel has been hiring 'B's and 'C's for a number of years now so the decline of Intel is accelerating. It is best to leave the company entirely and find a much better position at a better managed company.
Report it to legal. Only legal will do the right thing including forcing disciplinary action. HR is only there to exhaust you by doing pointless investigations without outcomes.
Move on. My manager in JF back stabbed me while I did all the work in RNB. I suffered and left a half year later (needed to transfer the credits away from her). 4 years later now I’m making 4x more and am responsible for new chips designed from scratch. I hated my intel manager but now I appreciate her to wake me up.
Leave intel, there are so many better places to work. If your manager has it in for you, you’re SOL. Move on, you won’t regret it.
It is difficult because HR supports Intel’s management 100%. If your manager turns against you, be aware that he or she is going to collect/document all your weaknesses. Don’t be surprised, he or she will go out of their way to reach out to others to collect even the slightest negative about you. In addition, in your team, people who are manager’s close associates will pressure you and provide negative feedback.
You should be always on guard and document everything. When you deal with HR, the only thing that might work is records and facts - I.e. emails, recorded events when others are present, etc that demonstrate that the manager intentionally try to damage you.
Build strong relations with other managers within Intel and provide tangible deliverables. Ask and save their input as part of your record keeping. One thing the manager might do is to say you are good but you are insubordinate in other words you don’t do the things that he or she asks you to do. To prevent this, make sure that you record what projects/ARs your manager is giving you.
At the end, it is hard to work for a manager who works against his or her employees. It is hard to impress these types of people with your skills and deliverables. At intel, they are dime a dozen. you should look for another position. This is a lesson for all of us but when selecting a manager, choose people who you will learn from - people who are better than you in terms of content, experience, management skills etc and who you will respect.