Managing Your Boss

I recently had some young and middle managers in a workshop and one of the recurring issues was working with a difficult boss. To start with, the term difficult I believe is ambiguous because ‘difficult’ is something that defies a person’s understanding or a little challenging for one’s skills and attitude to handle at that point in time.

I tried to pin down the characteristics or the behaviours that make this person difficult and that was quite difficult to articulate. I do not deny that because of personality and other differences that it could be quite challenging to get along with some people but I do believe that when someone has a boss and the boss is a difficult person, there are ways to relate and manage this person.

My first question to this young manager who is obviously frustrated by her inability to reach, access and relate with this boss is affecting her performance on the job was “Is there something good, something you like at all about this boss?” After a long thought, she acknowledged that yes; the boss in question knows his job but his ego is as high as the heavens. Once we can identify something positive in a person then we are more than likely to find an in-road into building a viable relationship.

Timining is ciritcal
I believe that there is a right time to approach your boss to get his or her attention. Is she/he morning person or afternoon person?

Big piture/details
A boss is challenging when we have no clue how to present information. We tend to do what we like and expect everyone else to like it most especially the boss. Make effort to know your boss and present information the way it most appeals to him/her. Is she/he a big picture person or a very detailed person?

What is important to your boss
What is important to your boss? Help him. Support him. Initiative is the ability to use common sense uncommonly. Anticipate what the boss is struggling with and offer help.

Lastly, I read somewhere that you should not surprise your boss. I will add, do not let him/her discover things especially mistakes or information that you should have readily made available.