managing your boss
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Managing upmanaging your boss
Dr. E. J. Sarma 1 September 2011
If you are in a job you will have
surely a boss
If you wish to make the job
long lasting you need to manage who manages you besides all others and lot
more in the company
How to make it work?
Here are few words of
practical wisdom
Why manage boss?
Fundamental to the relationship is
establishing the trust and it does not come easily
Your actions and truthfulness will
establish the trust with speed .
Your boss will test you with
information, power, and toss decisions with you.it is upto you to establish
that you are capable of holding
sensitive data . Information and
decisions
1. Trust
You got hired on certain claims you made about your
capabilities
Unless you establish that you are what you claimed to be or to have ,credibility will
get eroded;You can lose the
battle not only with the boss but with the
peers and subordinates also.
2- credibility
Your boss needs as much free-up of his time after hiring you
If you continue to escalate all and sundry matters and eat up your boss’s time, be sure you don’t add value
The best ever compliment I got was “ you just released me from HR responsibility completely.”
Prior to my joining my boss used to spend many hours on people management issues.
3- Value add
There is story of 5 monkeys in cage with one banana hanging at top of
ladder.
First monkey tries to climb and get the banana and cold
shower is sent down. Monkey gets
scared comes down.one by one all
5 try.
The lead monkey decides to replace the first monkey
with new monkey.
Once new monkey starts to climb the
ladder the old monkeys start beating it and pulling down
After all 5 tried and failed they wonder what to do to get
the banana
4-Peer Feedback
The second monkey is now replaced and when it starts to
climb it is the first repalced new monkey which starts beating the new monkey more aggressively.
All 5 monkeys have been replaced and the banana is rotting leaving the monkeys wondering about the team
culture.
You will soon end up as new monkey unless you get the pat on the backs and feedback and
work on peer relationship
Monkey story
5- don’t misuse proximity
Once the trust gets established you will feel closer to your boss.
Let that not go in to your system and start believing that you are as good as your boss.
Secretaries start behaving like bosses to dig their own grave
Hubris is excessive pride (or "overweening" pride), and is often called "the pride that comes before the fall." It had serious consequences in Greek tragedy
and law.
Closeness to boss can lead to assumed power and that leads to hubris
Better avoid that
6-Hubris
Managers have received a lifetime of training in
being forceful, articulate
"advocates" and "problem solvers." They know how to present and
argue strongly for their views.
As people rise in the organization, they are forced to
deal with more complex and
interdependent issues where no one individual
"knows the answer, and where
the only viable option is for
groups of informed and
committed individuals to
think together to arrive at new
insights.
One need to learn to skillfully balance advocacy with
inquiry.
When balancing advocacy and
inquiry, lay out our reasoning
and thinking, and then encourage
others to challenge us.
"Here is my view and here is how I have arrived at it. How does it sound to you? What makes
sense to you and what doesn't? Do you see any ways I can improve it?"
Balancing inquiry and advocacy is sometimes
hard on people's
cherished opinions,
which is one reason why
it is so difficult to master.
The payoff comes in the
more creative and
insightful realizations that occur
when people combine multiple
perspectives.
7- Be an Advocate
Don’t attempt things other than what you were hired for
I know of an Ex. VP hired for sales was trying everything under marketing as he was good at it
After 6 months he gets fired for non performance.
8- Focus on what your mandate was
Creating visibility for
your self inside the
organization is very important
Stay close to people. Talk and
communicate
With everyone around.
Internal PR helps in enlisting
everyone’s good will and
support
9-Be visible
discuss your concerns -- not confront your boss.
There is a difference.
Need to carry out the
discussion of your concerns
in a non-adversarial
way.
Handle your complaints in a
manner that does not
damage to your
relationship.
10- Discuss concernsdo not confront and annoy
Summary- These tips come from what I have
seen in many people over three decades
Thank you
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