Managing (your relationship with) your boss.IntroductionThe relationship a manager has with their boss is of fundamental importance to the ability to perform well within their role. The relationship needs to be managed and has to be a conscious act and not simply a case of being pleasant or getting along well together. What is being managed is the relationship--not the individual. Your relationship with your boss is the most important relationship you have. A good relationship produces a productive and communicative com·mu·ni·ca·tive adj. 1. Inclined to communicate readily; talkative. 2. Of or relating to communication. com·mu working relationship ensuring you both know what is possible and feasible and therefore, ultimately, achieving results that matter to you both. A good working relationship improves self-esteem, aids your personal development and helps to overcome problems or conflict when they arise. It is important to make the time and take the trouble to talk to each other, this will help you form an alliance in order to work towards a common goal. It will also help you to better understand your manager's objectives and values. This in turn will enable you to support the weaker areas of your manager's style. However, be wary of encouraging you boss to think that an idea of yours was theirs. This checklist will help those who wish, or need, to manage the relationship with their boss more effectively. Remember to appraise appraise v. to professionally evaluate the value of property including real estate, jewelry, antique furniture, securities, or in certain cases the loss of value (or cost of replacement) due to damage. and review your current work, future goals and the relationship at regular intervals to ensure a good working relationship is maintained. National Occupational Standards for Management and Leadership This checklist has relevance to the following standards: D: working with people, unit 1 Definition A good working relationship between you and your boss should enable you to develop your skills, knowledge and career and therefore combine fairness, mutual respect, trust and rapport The former name of device management software from Wyse Technology, San Jose, CA (www.wyse.com) that is designed to centrally control up to 100,000+ devices, including Wyse thin clients (see Winterm), Palm, PocketPC and other mobile devices. , as well as openness and honesty Honesty See also Righteousness, Virtuousness. Alethia ancient Greek personification of truth. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 18] Better Business Bureau nationwide system of organizations investigating dishonest business practices. [Am. in communication. Managing your boss is about constructing a relationship of trust, respect and support. It means acknowledging who is the boss but maintaining the freedom to do the best for the organisation, the team and yourself. The key word is "manage"; implying an on-going process and not a one-off activity. Action checklist 1. Communicate properly ... on time, in adequate detail and regularly; make sure formal communication works, but also ensure you simply talk and compare notes from time to time. Prevention is better than cure, and effective communication prevents a lot of misunderstandings and breakdowns in relationships. 2. Identify any blockages Examine your current relationship with your boss. Identify where the blockages to a good working relationship lie--perhaps you have trouble communicating, or find it hard to express your own opinions or have discussions about workload The term workload can refer to a number of different yet related entities. An amount of labor While a precise definition of a workload is elusive, a commonly accepted definition is the hypothetical relationship between a group or individual human operator and task demands. . Identify what triggers these problems. Also think about parts of the relationship that work well. Build upon these and work on cutting problems in other areas. 3. Identify your boss's leadership style It is important to be able to recognise the way, or ways, that your boss typically acts or behaves towards you. The following are typical leadership styles: bureaucratic bu·reau·crat n. 1. An official of a bureaucracy. 2. An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure. bu , charismatic, dictatorial, consultative, laissez-faire. A specific style or mix of them will require different approaches from you. Think too about your boss's 'thinking' style. It's no surprise that we get on well with some people but others rub you up the wrong way. Try to figure out if your boss is one for the minutiae mi·nu·ti·a n. pl. mi·nu·ti·ae A small or trivial detail: "the minutiae of experimental and mathematical procedure" Frederick Turner. , for the 'big picture', reactive reactive /re·ac·tive/ (re-ak´tiv) characterized by reaction; readily responsive to a stimulus. re·ac·tive adj. 1. Tending to be responsive or to react to a stimulus. 2. or proactive, likes or hates change, is a right-brain or left-brain boss. 4. Identify your boss's key objectives and values Think about what is important to your boss and work hard on these areas. The two main areas to pay attention to are: * What, in the eyes of your manager, are the key objectives and what support can you give towards achieving them? * What personal values your boss holds dear--for instance customer care. Work on supporting these values and don't do things that are contrary to them. Be wary, however, of evidently self-interested values, such as personal status. 5. Clarify boundaries of responsibility Sort out with your boss exactly what decisions you can make: * after discussion with your boss * on your own but reporting to your boss afterwards af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. afterwards or afterward Adverb later [Old English æfterweard] Adv. 1. * on your own with no need to report. Lack of clarity can be a major source of conflict and friction. 6. Tackle the simple issues Look through the problems you have identified and decide which are the simple issues to solve. Can small administrative problems be solved by introducing a simple new system? Discuss minor sensitivities (e.g. opening the office window, working in silence or with background noise) with your boss and try to reach a compromise. Don't waste time reporting unimportant un·im·por·tant adj. Not important; petty. un  im·por tance n. successes.
Work overload See information overload and overloading. is often a common cause of conflict. Don't take on work you can't manage--be honest but remember your manager's objectives and always suggest an alternative solution. Don't underestimate yourself or your point of view. If you don't have faith in your ability to do a good job and develop in your role, your boss certainly won't. 7. Tackle longer term issues with assertiveness assertiveness /as·ser·tive·ness/ (ah-ser´tiv-nes) the quality or state of bold or confident self-expression, neither aggressive nor submissive. Some blockages can't be removed overnight. Concentrate on building up a stronger relationship with your boss. This means being assertive as·ser·tive adj. Inclined to bold or confident assertion; aggressively self-assured. as·ser tive·ly adv. but not aggressive. Express your point of view, respect your
boss's opinions and work to find mutually acceptable solutions to
existing problems. This will improve the value of your relationship and
help you to handle difficult situations more effectively in the future.
Don't loop the system by going over your boss's head--however
attractive this may seem. If you feel blocked, tackle the issues
directly to avoid creating other problems later.
8. Focus on loyalty and support Concentrate on supporting the weak spots in your boss's make up without making it too obvious you are doing so. Find out what parts of the business they enjoy and are good at, and those they doesn't like doing or perhaps doesn't have the skills to deal with. Make yourself indispensable. Show you are keen to learn skills which complement your boss's skills. Win their trust by achieving things they value. Together you can become a winning team. 9. Think about how other people see you People can assume a lot about your abilities from the way you look or the way you present yourself. They may think a scruffy scruff·y adj. scruff·i·er, scruff·i·est 1. Shabby; untidy. 2. Chiefly British Scaly; scabby. [From obsolete scruff, scurf, variant of , sullen sul·len adj. sul·len·er, sul·len·est 1. Showing a brooding ill humor or silent resentment; morose or sulky. 2. Gloomy or somber in tone, color, or portent: sullen, gray skies. looking person is disorganised, bad at their job and generally unreliable. Look smart. Smile and act positive. Celebrate your successes. Make sure your manager knows when you have done well and that your success is theirs too. 10. Seize on Verb 1. seize on - adopt; "take up new ideas" fasten on, hook on, latch on, take up sweep up, embrace, espouse, adopt - take up the cause, ideology, practice, method, of someone and use it as one's own; "She embraced Catholicism"; "They adopted the Jewish opportunities Keep your eye on the big picture and not just the task in hand. Don't use an overload of work as an excuse to avoid activities such as attending conferences or meeting senior directors. Weigh up the short-term disadvantages against the potential longer-term value for the organisation. Think about what these opportunities do for your development and what you could learn. 11. Communicate your agenda There's no need to be abrasive abrasive, material used to grind, smooth, cut, or polish another substance. Natural abrasives include sand, pumice, corundum, and ground quartz. Carborundum (silicon carbide) and alumina (aluminum oxide) are important synthetically produced abrasives. , but a modicum mod·i·cum n. pl. mod·i·cums or mod·i·ca A small, moderate, or token amount: "England still expects a modicum of eccentricity in its artists" Ian Jack. of repetition REPETITION, construction of wills. A repetition takes place when the same testator, by the same testamentary instrument, gives to the same legatee legacies of equal amount and of the same kind; in such case the latter is considered a repetition of the former, and the legatee is entitled may be useful in making sure that your agenda gets heard. This may relate to specific projects or on-going work but think about the bigger picture too. What do you want to learn? Where do you want your career to go? Instead of always playing your boss's tune, develop joint objectives. 12. Review issues and actions, and plan future development Appraise issues which are important to you and discuss them with your manager. They are actually important to them too, because if you fail, your boss fails. Discuss problems before they get out of hand and have some ideas for solutions ready to talk through. 13. When relationships are genuinely difficult Most of this checklist holds good if you have a boss who is a fairly reasonable human being. Sometimes you may be faced with a difficult boss. Three of the worst types of boss can be the bully, the sexually harassing boss, and the glory-stealing boss. It is not easy to deal with any of these although there is some protection from employment law to draw on with the first two. Take a look at the Additional Resources for ways of dealing with the glory-stealer--there are techniques involving keeping records, collecting evidence and bypassing your boss. 14. Nip conflict in the bud If conflict breaks out between you and your boss--handle it. Don't run away or tackle anger with anger (See Related Checklists). 15. Review the relationship Sit down from time to time and ask "How are we doing?" Focus on the relationship so that you both know where things stand, and can work to improve and maintain the underlying relationship between you. If a conflict--or a particularly successful joint approach--has occurred, use it as a vehicle for reviewing the relationship and work out what to do again in the future and what to do differently next time. How not to Manage your Relationship with your Boss Don't: * be passive--always doing what your manager wants and not putting forward your own viewpoint * be aggressive--fighting fire with fire rarely works * go over your boss's head if you can avoid it * ignore problems and avoid discussing them * hinder hin·der 1 v. hin·dered, hin·der·ing, hin·ders v.tr. 1. To be or get in the way of. 2. To obstruct or delay the progress of. v.intr. open communication. Additional resources Books Managing your boss in a week, Sandi Mann London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2000 Defective defective adj. not being capable of fulfilling its function, ranging from a deed of land to a piece of equipment. (See: defect, defective title) bosses: working for the dysfunctional dys·func·tion also dis·func·tion n. Abnormal or impaired functioning, especially of a bodily system or social group. dys·func dozen, Kerry Carson and Paula Phillips Carson New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Haworth Press, 1998 This is a selection of books available for loan to members from the Management Information Centre. More information at: www.managers.org.uk/mic Journal articles Managing your boss, John J Gabarro and John P Kotter Harvard Business Review Harvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership and , Jan vol 83 no 1, 2005, pp92,94-99 Rescue remedy, Jan Francois Manzoni and Jean Louis Jean Louis (born Jean Louis Berthauldt, October 5, 1907, Paris, France - April 20, 1997, Palm Springs, California, USA) was a U.S. costume designer and multiple Academy Award nominee in Costume Design. Barsoux People Management, 14 Oct vol 10 no 20, 2004, pp27-30 How to manage your boss, Stefan Stern Management Today, Oct 2004, pp50,53,55 Ten rules for managing your boss, Jacques Horovitz Perspectives for Managers, Jan no 85, 2002, whole issue This is a selection of journal articles available from the Management Information Centre. More information at: www.managers.org.uk/mic Related checklists Ensuring Clear Communication (200) Handling Conflict Situations (064) 
To the Author ,
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with me, I am on the path to confidence building and to become a better indvidual with increase self esteem, quality of life, social success and freedom. Thanks again. =) |
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