Ah! I've done this, from the other perspective. What happens is that the senior is asked to "lead the team" by their boss with two major failings: * They don't

Ah! I've done this, from the other perspective. What happens is that the senior is asked to "lead the team" by their boss with two major failings: * They don't tell them what they mean by lead and * They don't tell the team that they have a new leader Yet another example of just how bad telepathy is for communication, and we should probably stop trying to use it. I would advise scheduling a short meeting with the 'real' manager and saying that you're having difficulty understanding how best to collaborate with XYZ. Mention that you don't know if XYZ has the mandate to override decisions made by manager and shit will be made clear _real_ fast to both of you.