Three good rules for managing the boss. Plus one!

If you struggle to manage the relationship with your boss, if his/her pressing demands make your life difficult, the following lines will probably help you.

It happens quite frequently that bosses are under pressure, and they are anxiously seeking performance marked by enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.

And it also happens that their anxieties and urgencies end up, in various forms, on your table.

What to do then? How can you deal with that?

Here are three basic rules that can improve life, both yours and your boss’s.

1. Make your boss happy with your work.
   • A satisfied boss will give you more time and discretion. An unhappy boss will also tend to control every detail of your work. Excellent performance pays off, always.
2. Anticipate your requests.
   • Bosses love to be anticipated: a task completed in advance, a severe problem that is no longer so always lifts morale. And your boss is not an exception!
3. Try, always, to look at the world through his eyes.
   • If you understand what troubles him, and if you identify the pressures he is experiencing, then you will be able to take appropriate action. And the quality of your professional life will improve.

What about the fourth rule? Here it is.

If you do not agree with what your boss is asking,
behave as you would like your staff member to do with you
in a comparable situation.

Trying to change his/her mind is the right thing to do. But do not forget that the final responsibility is his because he is also in charge of your work. Would you willingly accept that your staff members go often sideways?

Forgot!

Too often we think the boss is very smart when he/she behaves as we would in his/her place or when we agree with his/her position; when we have different ideas, however, we tend to express disagreement and manage the consequent actions with distance.

Handling with determination even decisions you disagree with is a qualifying aspect of your work, because

anyone who has views that differ from yours is not necessarily an idiot:
not even if he/she is your boss!

What do you think?