It's really easy to call names behind your boss's back, but what if you can strategize your way to be on the same page as him? After all, he is also a human being.
All of us have heard the saying – people don’t leave organizations, they leave bosses. True to an extent but is it the absolute truth? No. One of the skills I think each one of us needs to pick up is how we manage our bosses. In my work spanning 25 years I have worked with 9 bosses, 3 male and the rest female. I am not heading to a gender discussion here. To me a boss is a boss irrespective of gender. There could be gender nuances in your experience and that’s also valid. Here, I am sticking to the subject called boss.
I have been very keen on this subject for a long time now and felt the need to put pen to paper and write about it. Like any of you reading this relationship would understand that it has not been a very easy one for me. If I have to describe it, I would call it a roller coaster ride with its own jerks and ease. And, in this ride, there are a few strategies that I have very effectively used and they served me well. I want to share those with you and you could in turn share yours with me or critique any of mine. That’s also fine.
Here are the 8 strategies (not in any order though):
Observe your boss for common ground: To check what matters to him (I am using ‘him’ as a general terminology). What does he stand for? What drives him? What is he good at? This strategy gave me enough information relating to my bosses. I got a common ground to build a sound work relationship. This has not been easy for me. I would observe my boss in every meeting, email communication and saw that the larger vision and mission of the organization was important to him. And that mattered to me as well. So, a common ground was met to tread.
Source: People matters
