Copyright (c) 2007 The National Learning Institute
John was a former boss of mine. Before I started working
for him, I had heard from others that he had a very good
reputation and so I was really looking forward to working
with him. The office was a very busy one with lots of
customer interaction and a very heavy processing workload.
After the first couple of months, I got the feeling that
there was no real harmony in our relationship and I found
it difficult to work out why. John was good with the
customers and well liked by other staff, but we just didn’t
seem to hit it off. It was not until my formal performance
appraisal some months later that I finally found out what
the problem was. The job I’d taken over was in a real mess
and required a great deal of management skill to get it
back on track, which I believed I had done well. During my
performance appraisal discussion, John acknowledged my good
work in this area, but (and it was a big “but” for him) he
didn’t see me doing enough marketing with potential
customers.
You see, John’s pet interest was marketing and he expected
all of his people to make this their number one priority.
Do you know what your manager’s number one or key
priorities are?
Although we often have performance discussions with our
manager, how clear are we on the order of priority they
have for each area of our performance? How clear are they
themselves about their “expectations” of us? These
“expectations” are often unwritten and in fact may be
somewhat different to the formal performance requirements
of the role.
So, what’s the best way to manage the relationship with
your boss? There are two aspects of this; firstly four
clear action steps that you can plan for and take at the
start of your working partnership and secondly, four
“rules” that you should follow in all your dealings with
your boss to ensure a productive working relationship is
maintained.
Step One:Â Agree your manager’s expectations of you
A simple way of doing this, is to have a discussion with
him or her (preferably soon after you start in the role).
Ask your manager;
• “What are the top three priorities in the role that you
would like me to focus on?”
• Or, if you have a formal performance discussion, ask your
manager to assign a percentage figure of “importance”
against each one of your key responsibility areas (each
area should be given a percentage out of a total for all
areas of 100%) so that you can assess his or her
priorities. You should also ask “Why this is so
important?” as the answer will give you a lot of good clues
for developing the relationship.
Should this discussion merely be a repeat of the formal
performance requirements of your role, then you will need
to gather some of the “unwritten” ways your boss will
assess both you and your performance. Sometimes, the boss
may not even be consciously aware of these expectations,
but none the less they will be there. One good way of
doing this is to ask him or her to explain their ideal
employee. You can do this with a question such as: “You’ve
probably had many good people working for you previously.
What is it about these people that you particularly liked?”
If you want some more information, you can always ask your
manager to describe some of the characteristics and
behaviours of their most disappointing employees.
Step Two:Â Assess yourself
What is it about you that impedes or facilitates working
with your boss? Draw up a (short) list of “Things that I
like about working with my boss” and “Things that I don’t
like about working with my boss”. Work out some ways to
overcome, or at least manage, the things that you don’t
like, for these are probably the areas that your boss is
least happy with. If necessary, ask some of your peers for
assistance, particularly those who seem to have a good
relationship with him or her.
You should also review the information about your manager’s
ideal employee and most disappointing employee that you
obtained in step one. What will you need to do to ensure
that you take account of your manager’s likes and dislikes
in his or her employees?
Applying this step doesn’t mean that you have to change
your style or personality. However, it does mean that you
need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with
your manager’s expectations.
Step Three:Â Understand your boss
You don’t have to become lifelong friends with your boss,
but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try
to develop strategies for the following:
- How does he/she like to receive information? When?
What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture?
Give it that way.
- What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.
- What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?
- What’s the boss’ central goal? How can you assist?
- What are his/her main pressures? How can you help
minimize these?
- How does your boss handle conflict? How can you help
(or avoid)?
Step Four:Â Recognise that there are differences in style
and adapt
For example, you may have different personality styles; you
may be an introvert, your boss may be an extrovert, or vice
versa. This doesn’t mean that you suddenly have to change,
but please do think about his or her style and learn to
manage it. For instance, extroverts like to work out
problems by talking them through. So, if your boss is more
extroverted, then it can be quite useful to talk through
issues with him or her to reach a decision. Introverts on
the other hand, like plenty of time to think about a
problem and then discuss their ideas and possible
solutions. If your boss is more introverted, then you will
need to go to him or her with very well thought out
proposals and recommendations – trying to reach a
conclusion by talking the issues through with this style of
manager will definitely not work. Make sure that you have
a good understanding of both yours and your boss’ style so
that you can learn to manage the differences.
Implementing the above four steps with your boss will go a
long way to building a solid foundation for the
relationship.
In addition to these four steps, there are also four rules
that I believe you should always follow in your ongoing
relationship with him or her if you want it to be truly
productive.
Rule One:Â There should be no surprises for your boss!
Keep your boss informed of what’s happening in your area on
a regular basis, particularly potential problems. If you
are in doubt as to what to tell or not tell your boss,
always ask yourself: “Would this information have an impact
on my boss’ position?” It’s generally better to
communicate too much than too little.
Rule Two:Â Never hide a problem
No matter how much you try, hidden problems will always
come back to bite you (they are like lies – they will
always find you out). Far better to be proactive. Keep in
mind that you will help your situation if you present the
information in a style that suits your boss; try to get the
words “right” by communicating in a style that suits your
boss’ communication style.
Rule Three:Â Always do your homework
Before approaching your boss with a question or to ask for
help, always do as much research as possible so that you
have the complete facts. If he or she constantly has to
send you away for more information, then you have not
prepared properly. Try to bring your solutions or
suggested solutions with you when presenting a problem on
which you want some help. This will demonstrate to your
boss that you are taking initiative although you may not
have all the answers.
Rule Four:Â Do not underrate or undercut your boss
Present a united front – support your boss with others.
Disagree with him/her in private, never in public.
Finally, remember the person who has most control over your
immediate future (other than yourself) is your boss. Treat
him or her with that respect. From my experience,
following these four rules and implementing the four steps
mentioned earlier, will ensure that your relationship with
your boss is a very positive one. By following these boss
management strategies with my manager John, I was able to
turn around what had started out as a poor relationship.
So much so, that when I decided to resign some time later
to take up a better job offer, John tried hard to keep me
as I had become one of his “ideal employees”.
—————————————————-
Bob Selden has had some very difficult bosses and some
great ones. This article summarises the strategies he
believes are important in managing your boss. Bob is
always interested in hearing about boss relationships –
good or bad – so please contact him at
http://www.nationallearning.com.au with your experiences or
current boss management challenges to get some free advice
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