You Need to Manage Your BossTuesday, October 24, 2006Often when someone is telling me about the problems they have with their boss, I tell them that they need to manage up. The usual response is "What is managing up?" I explain that we are all managers, whether we have the official title or not. Often I get a puzzled look, followed by the question. "What do you mean we are all managers? I have no one reporting to me." Unless you run your own show, you have a boss and believe it or not, he needs to be managed. As managers, we think we know a lot, but truth be told we really don't. We depend on everyone who works for us. We tell our employees how things work, what should be done, how to do things, when to do things, why we have to do things, etc. When we start to think we know everything, it is time for us to be managed. We need you to tell us we a re wrong. It is really okay to tell your boss that you "think" he is wrong. I emphasize think because you never want to tell your boss he is wrong. Most bosses aren't mature enough to handle brutal honesty. It hurts their finely tuned ego. What if your boss tells you to do something that you know is wrong? Do you do it? No. You have a responsibility to tell your boss that you feel what he is asking you to do is wrong. You will get one of two responses, both of which depend on the maturity and emotional intelligence of your boss. A good boss will thank you for sharing your concerns whether they agree or disagree with you. He may still ask you to do it; however, it should not be something unethical or something that forces you to compromise your values. You have to decide whether you feel you can do it. If not, you have to be tough and even risk your job. Get HR involved if you need to. Bosses hate when HR gets involved. A bad boss will invalidate your concerns and probably try to insult your intelligence. He will tell you to do it or else... It may seem counter-intuitive, but your response should be the same for the good boss or the bad boss. As a boss, I have been wrong many times. I continue to make mistakes. I am human. If you work for someone who feels he is never wrong, you have a boss that is challenging, if not impossible to manage up. That does not give you the excuse not to do it. You just have to work harder. Tomorrow I will talk about some specific things that you can do. posted at 10/24/2006 12:59:00 PM |
DISCLAIMER
Information provided on this site is for informational purposes only; it is not intended as a substitute for legal advice. The information on this site is not to be used for legal defense. The author(s) are not responsible for any actions taken by the reader or any results in the work environment. Always contact your attorney for professional advice.
Copyright © 2006 Beat Your Own Drum
4 Comments:
Some of us learn better through observation; perhaps you could go first so the rest of us can witness the end result? ;-)
Eric - great topic.
Good managers use their resources to make better informed decisions. It is important for employees to manage upward and to engage management in healthy dialogues. When an employee understands the thought process that went into make a decision or participates in the decision process, it helps the employee "buy into" the vision and work towards the goal.
This is a great point. It is also important to point out to stay positive about it. When your boss makes a decision that goes against what you expected or believed what was right for the company, do you take it to mean that your boss is an idiot or do you use it as a way to recalibrate?
To recalibrate, after your boss makes a decision that you didn't expect you should be asking yourself questions:
- Is it because he has access to more information or can see more of the picture?
- Did I not give my boss enough information to make the correct decision?
- Is it not the right time, is it not for the right reasons, or the right cost to make this decision?
If you are of the "my boss is an idiot" mindset and you use that as an excuse to undermine them, you are hurting yourself more than your boss. If they are an idiot, most likely everyone else knows it as well - and all you do by pointing it out or trying to make your boss look bad is to make yourself undesirable by other managers in your company. Why would a manager want an employee like that working for them? Wouldn't they rather someone who is able to get good work done without making others look bad?
That said, if this truly is the right decision to make, there are many ways to "force" your boss to make the right decision without undermining him...
My brother was once trapped in that situation where he was asked to do something unethical. He stood right up to them and said no. He was fired for it. He went to the Boss above his boss and told him exactly why he was being let go.
I have been doing much better with my boss. I have figured out some of his tricks. He likes to come in asking a lot of questions, trying to get you flustered or to say something that he can jump on and run with. I call it "fishing". He comes in and digs and questions until he hears something that he doesn't like then BLAM.
I have discovered the best way to deal with that is to give him as little info as possible while still addressing his questions. I have also been standing up to him more when he brings out the steamroller. It has been awhile since he has really railed on me.
He still gets in his jabs and token jerk quota.
In this case managing up is indeed required, but difficult. Thanks for the tips.
Post a Comment
<< Home