10rules to manage your boss

8/8/2019 10rules to Manage Your Boss

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10 Rules To Manage Your

Boss

faster decisions, better decisions

and more trust.


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1. Decisions: if you dont want a

no, give him/her a hand.

Remind where left it last meeting

Remind the objective rather than the what

and the how Remind past problems because no

decision.

Summarize options and your reasons forselecting your option

Tell him/her what you expect from him:


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Tell him what you expect

Simply to inform

To decide jointly

To share the risk

To add one criterion To re-examine the option

Focus on the points where you need help

Be prepared with backup data

After your meeting, summarize in writing tomake sure of the understanding

Once decision is made; do not criticise externally


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Manager his/her time

You may represent only 1% of her

problems; dont make it as if it is 100%

The more simple the problem the less timeyou should need.

Do not confuse more frequent problems

with the most important ones.

Book your manager for several meetings

in advance so you dont have to wait


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3. An opinion: If you ask for one,

he/she will always give you one. Once given, the opinion may become a constraint. Wasit an order?

Dont ask if you dont need.

Choose the right moment to avoid procrastination.

Prepare for your meeting:first because the advantage isto the one who is prepared, second becausethepreparation helps you reduce the time taken to cometo the central issue.

Show the forest before the trees in a discussion. If you

want to avoid spending a lot of time on going back tobasics before she is at full speed with you, start with thebasics yourself. Remind her of the objective, where youstand today, and what you want her opinion on.


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4. Information, grapes cont.

Dont give only bad news. Give good

news, too.

Or, little by little, you become the badnews, too.

Dont minimize the good news because

you want to focus on the problems by

doing that you contribute to creating a bad

atmosphere.


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4. Grapes cont.

Make sure he does not get the info from

others too often; we may not think it

relevant;

Others, however could do it before you

I heard thatWhy didnt you tell me

that


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4. Grapes not souring cont.

Trade off between info overload causeingboredom and restlessness or informationstarvation.

Round off: do you tell him 79.27% vs21.73% or 80 vs 20.

Participate & contribute to his informal

network. Provide him with the extra thatyou believe would give greaterunderstanding of the environment.


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5. Problems come with solutions

Good bosses hate 2 kinds of behaviour

the yes person who says everything they

do is great and the pyromania who comes

running in to say There is a huge

problem..but dont worryI ll solve it!

Third problem: the monkey transferor.

She has a problem and she puts it on your

shoulders, rather than bring a solution


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6. Assumptions

Please help, you are the expert.

You spend all of your time and your teamon the issue you live with the data,pressure points and levers, your bossdoes not.

Most senior people dangerous when they

get involved in making micro-decisions their point of reference is not the currentone (outdated)


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Delegations: test the waters

Either you play it safe and always asks for

her/his opinion lead to paralysis, bottlenecks

and your own demise (boss will think you are

unable to take responsibility) Or, you assume too much, take decisions and

learn after the fact that it was not yours to

decide.

In between, there is the test the waters strategy.


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8. Promises

Dont promise what you cant deliver.Trust

is at stake

Trust not develop overnight; depends onthe predictability of the other person

In the same way, you will not fully trust

your boss if she changes her mind too

often or says things contrary to what you

were told the last time.


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Promises cont

Avoid being seen as unreliable by not

delivering on what you promise

If you think you are in too deep; sit downand re-discuss priorities before

proceeding. Involve your boss in the

process, so it becomes a common priority


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9. Our differences

People who like to control, introduceprocesses, develop more the now;

People who are more concerned withpeople, develop more the impact onpeople.

People who are more concerned with

getting things done, start with key actions; People who are more concerned with

ideas, frame proposals in concepts


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Know your boss..

And try to present accordingly.


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11. Make your boss laugh

Humour bonds!

10rules to manage your boss

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