Understanding Your Boss

Self-knowledge is important for working with a boss; it provides an understanding of one's strengths and areas for development. When we know our strengths we can use them to help our boss. Knowing our areas for development help us avoid situations and behavior that will be detrimental to us and our boss.

Knowing your boss's needs, behavior, and personality is also vital to your success. The more you know about your boss, the better you will be able to empathize with your boss. You need to understand your boss's goals, pressures, strengths, and areas for development. This helps you and your boss to avoid unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, and difficulties. Researchers recommend that you learn the answers to the following questions:

• What are your boss's organizational and personal objectives?
• What are the pressures on your boss?
• What are the activities or qualities in which your boss excels?
• What are your boss's blind spots?
• What is his or her preferred style of working?
• Does he or she like to get information through memos, face-to-face meetings, or telephone calls?
• Does your boss thrive on conflict or try to minimize it?

The answers to these questions will help you manage your relationship with your boss. And this is important because you and your boss are mutually interdependent.

Adjusting to Your Boss

Let's discuss ways you might adjust to two types of bosses, "the administrator" and "the analytical."

The Administrator

The administrator is generally pleasant and mild mannered, but is slow and cautious in making decisions. When presented with a problem or suggestion, his or her usual response is to consult management directives, policies, or procedures. This type of boss is often more concerned with how you go about a task than he or she is about the outcome. Acting in concert with other organizations is very important to the administrator. The administrator's style demotivates creative employees and those with a lot of initiative. Here are some strategies that may help in coping with the administrator:

• Don't expect quick responses
  
  With this type of boss, patience is not only a virtue, it's also a valuable coping strategy. Impatience will only cause you unnecessary stress.
  
  
• Become fully familiar with management directives, policies, and procedures
  
  This will enable you to present your ideas as being in accordance with management directives, policies, and procedures. Your ideas will then be more likely to meet with the administrator's approval.
  
  
• Take responsibility for risk
  
  Protect the administrator from the risk of being associated with a failure. This may help you to get permission to implement new ideas.
  
  
• When selling the administrator on new ideas, tie them to similar ideas that were successful
  
  
• Do nothing
  
  You may decide it's not worthwhile to try to change a less than satisfactory working relationship with the administrator. This may be a legitimate choice if he or she is rigidly set in his or her ways or not inclined to change for your sake.
  
  But don't take the do nothing approach unless you are relatively certain the administrator is unlikely to change. Trusted co-workers may be able to offer you some insight as to the expected results of change efforts.
  
  If you choose to do nothing, don't complain about the situation to others. Adopt attitudes that will preserve your ​ ​emotional equilibrium. For example, you can tell yourself things like "I won't be working for this person forever" and "I'm going to learn what I can from this boss." Then live with the situation gracefully or search for another position.
  
  

The Analytical

Now let's look at how one might adapt one's style to a different type of boss, the analytical. Here are some coping strategies that may help in managing an analytical boss:

• Consult with an analytical peer when you want to predict how the boss may react to an idea or request
• Keep informal comments brief unless the analytical prolongs an informal discussion
• Do your homework before making requests
• Make sure you can present logical reasons why the analytical should give consent to your requests.
• Avoid talking too much or exaggerating

• These behaviors are certain to displease an analytical boss.

There are many other types of bosses besides the administrator and the analytical. The tips included in the next two sections will help you manage your relationship with your boss, whatever his or her style. 

Good Practices

Find out what your boss's expectations are

Some bosses are not explicit about their expectations. Figure out a way to get the information you need to succeed in your job. You may be able to get this information directly from your boss. In other cases, you can get this information from others who have worked for your boss.

Communicate your expectations to your boss

There's a good chance that your boss won't meet your expectations if he or she is unaware of them. Example: a manager places a high value on receiving feedback when he doesn't meet his boss's expectations. This manager could make it clear to his boss that he values feedback and that he will assume he is performing as expected unless his boss tells him otherwise.

When problems arise between you and your boss, consider discussing them

Some problems can be resolved by bringing them to your boss's attention and discussing them maturely and assertively. If you're not sure how to discuss a problem with your boss, consider seeking advice from a respected peer or friend.

Stay aware of your boss's goals, problems, and pressures

Conditions affecting your boss can change rapidly. Pay attention to these conditions so that you can provide the support your boss needs from you.

Analyze less than satisfactory interactions with your boss

The following questions can help:

• Did your behavior encourage your boss's undesirable behavior?
• Was your boss preoccupied with other matters?
• Did the interaction have any similarities with other unsatisfactory interactions you've had with your boss?
• Did you fall back on instinctive behaviors that don't work well with your boss?
• Have peers or coworkers experienced more success in similar interactions? If so, what are their strategies? What would have worked better?
  
  

Provide your boss with as complete a product or service as possible

If your boss requests some numerical information, ask yourself whether a graph depicting the information could prove useful. If your boss asks for a letter, attempt to provide a letter your boss can sign right there (without revision).

Think from your boss's perspective occasionally

What would your wants and needs be if you were in his or her position? Putting yourself in your boss's shoes will help you anticipate his or her needs.

Concentrate on your performance and the services you provide to your boss

When people spend a lot of time thinking about the past, future, or the next job they desire, their performance suffers. The best way to be successful is to aim for outstanding performance.

If your boss is moody, use timing to your advantage

Be observant and learn to read your boss's moods. Approach your boss with requests or new ideas when he or she is in a receptive mood.

Be selective in raising concerns with your boss

This advice is very similar to the lesson learned by the boy who cried "wolf" in the fable. Approaching the boss frequently with problems and complaints can decrease his or her effectiveness. It may also cause the boss to take concerns less seriously than if one were more selective. Treat a boss's time like the scarce resource that it is and approach him or her with truly important concerns.

Support your boss

Bosses (like you) are subject to stressful, unpleasant, and exasperating experiences. Empathize with your boss and provide assistance when you can.

Be a good follower

Good followers are active, independent, critical thinkers who can manage themselves. To be a good follower:

• Commit to persons, principles, or purposes beyond yourself
• Align some of your personal goals with the goals of your organization
• Perform your job competently
• Stay abreast of current developments in your field
• Be a credible source of information
• Learn how to move easily into the leadership role and return again to the role of follower
  
  

Manage problems effectively

Bosses appreciate creative problem solvers. Do what you can to solve problems before you turn to your boss for help.

If an impediment turns out to be insurmountable, inform your boss promptly

If you delay informing your boss, the window of opportunity for overcoming the impediment may close. Informing your boss as soon as possible helps prevent the impediment from escalating into a panic situation.

Use good problem solving strategies with your boss

When solving problems, don't make pleasing the boss your primary aim. Instead, focus on reaching the best solutions to problems. Your boss benefits from hearing your reasoning and opinion, so don't try to say what you think he or she wants to hear. Those who behave like servile self-seeking flatterers cheat themselves and their bosses.

Always get back (respond appropriately) to your boss

If your boss asks you about something, provide an answer. Don't assume that your boss has forgotten something, even if he or she hasn't made any recent inquiries.

Minimize the number of times your boss is surprised

Keep your boss informed about key issues within your area of responsibility. Your boss needs to be able to answer questions asked by his or her boss. Anticipate questions your boss may be asked. Then provide information your boss will need to answer these questions.

Plan for important interactions with your boss

How can you present what you want to say clearly and concisely? How can you present it without threatening your boss or invoking his or her stress response? Thinking through important interactions before they take place will help you to communicate effectively.

Disagree agreeably

George Washington advised, "Strive not with your superiors in argument." If you have a difference of opinion with your boss, keep things as objective and amicable as possible. This will help keep the discussion productive. Consider giving in if a disagreement arises over something unimportant. We can't always have things our way.

Know when to communicate privately

Embarrassing or criticizing a boss (or anyone else) in front of others should be avoided. Think before you speak and identify issues that should be discussed in privacy. And bear in mind that even private discussions go better when conducted in an assertive manner.

Remember that bosses, like other people, respond to reinforcers

A "reinforcer" is something that increases the probability of a desired response. Praise and feedback can serve as reinforcers. Bosses do appreciate hearing things like "thank you" and "I thought you handled that situation very well."

If you're not sure what your boss wants, ask

Guessing about what your boss wants can be risky. If your boss isn't available to provide an answer, apply lessons learned from working with your boss in the past.

Listen to your boss

It's impossible to be a good communicator if you don't listen effectively. You can learn a lot by carefully listening to your boss.

Work well with others

Poor interpersonal skills thwart teamwork and lead to misunderstandings and resentment. And these are some of the hardest problems for bosses to solve.

Be willing to stretch your capabilities

Bosses tend to rely on those who are willing to take on more responsibility. Offer to take "stretch" assignments periodically. You'll expand your skills and add value to your group.

Learn to perform with less and less oversight from your boss

You can do this by continuously improving how well you perform your job. This will increase your autonomy and free up time that your boss otherwise would have expended monitoring your work.

Give your boss feedback

Give your boss feedback when it will enhance his or her effectiveness. Even bosses at the general and senior manager level appreciate useful feedback presented to them in an acceptable manner.

Look at your work with a critical eye before you give it to your boss

By critiquing your work, you can provide your boss with a higher quality product or service. Think about the "what ifs" related to your work. And think about the recipients or end users of your work. How do they use your work? What do they need from you?.

Practices to Avoid

Forgetting to be sensitive to your boss's style

In the rush to get things done, it's easy to fall back on preferred ways of doing things. But it's usually a mistake to ignore your boss's style. This is especially true when you need help or resources from your boss. Being sensitive to your boss's style and making appropriate adjustments to your behavior could help you get what you need.

Trying to change your boss's style

This will prove to be a waste of your time. The best you can hope for is to change specific behaviors.

Bemoaning a new boss (who is a different type than your old boss)

Exposure to different types of bosses is beneficial if you learn from them. Complaining about a new boss is counterproductive; learn to work successfully with the new boss.

Holding an unrealistic view of your boss

Bosses are neither all-knowing saints or evil dictators. Remember that your boss is human, which means that he or she is imperfect and fallible (like you). By keeping a realistic view of your boss, you can avoid being either unnecessarily resistant or overly compliant.

Assuming that your boss's actions are the result of bad intentions

It's usually best to give your boss the benefit of the doubt. Isn't that what you want your boss to do for you?

Being overly critical of your boss

For example, if your boss makes what you believe is a poor decision, consider the possibility that the decision was based on information that you don't have.

Being a source of conflict

Your boss encounters more than enough conflict in the normal course of business. Resolve conflict constructively and promote teamwork.

Expecting your boss to keep you informed about everything

Bosses are bombarded by just as many, and probably more, distractions as you. This may prevent your boss from keeping you as fully informed as you'd like to be. So develop alternate sources of information that will supplement what you learn from your boss. If you're concerned about a specific issue, ask. Don't assume that, just because you haven't heard anything, no action has been taken or that your boss doesn't care.

Underestimating what the boss needs to know

When projects are delegated, delegatees sometimes assume they alone need to know the status of the projects. Don't make this mistaken assumption. Keep your boss up-to-date on the status of projects.

Being undependable

Your boss needs to be able to rely on you. Avoid making overly optimistic commitments that can't be met. Both the quality and the timeliness of your work are important.

Being less than completely honest

Your boss can't work effectively with you unless he or she trusts you. Protect the trust your boss has in you by being honest and forthright.

Using up your boss's time on issues or problems you can resolve yourself

Your boss's time is a valuable resource that can be squandered through overuse. Be selective about seeking assistance from your boss.

Being disloyal to your boss

Every boss expects loyalty. Criticizing or complaining about your boss to others without trying to resolve differences one-on-one with your boss is disloyalty. Bosses don't trust disloyal employees.

This doesn't mean that you should agree with everything your boss says and does. It also doesn't mean you should cover for a boss who's engaged in unethical practices. What we mean is that you should be assertive, considerate, and loyal. Some people use the rule that they won't say anything about someone that they wouldn't say directly to that person. It seems like a good rule to adopt for boss-employee working relationships, too.