We spend an average of one-third of the time on weekdays at work, and if your relationship at workplace with colleagues and boss is a difficult one, you probably will have a hard time. There are two parts you spend at work: working and dealing with people. Working to complete tasks and goals is not difficult, but managing relationships could be a challenging one.
Managing your relationships, be it top (your boss), bottom (your reporting line) or horizontal (your peers) can be mutually rewarding. It can make your jobs easier and potentially helpful in career advancement.
In this article, we are going to look into managing the top, your boss. Here are some of the effective way to have a pleasant working relationship.
Why is it important to manage your boss?
You will be spending most of the time with your direct reporting, which is your boss.
Here are why it is good to establish a good working relationship with your boss:
- Earning your boss’s trust
- Getting your boss’s support at work
- Opportunity for career advancement
- Reduce miscommunication
- To be more productive and efficient at work.
Here are some to do for you to manage your boss:
The key for good relationship management is through communication and understanding.
1. Be a Problem Solver
Problems will always occur at work, the first step to prevent the problem from getting worse is to first stop participating in it. You are hired there to solve problems, and not to create drama or add more to the crisis. When issues arise, do not just head to your boss and tell him that there is a problem. Always prepared and put yourself into your boss’s shoes. Present to your boss on the actions that you have done or strategies to counter the issues. Layout the options for them. You might also brainstorm with your boss to find better solutions.
In short, never go to your boss without a solution.
2. Stay Calm when Situations at Work Went Haywire.
When everything is falling apart and losing track, the last thing to keep is not to lose calm. Keeping a cool head during high stress and fast paced working environments is vital for your career. Staying calm showing that you can work and perform under pressure, making you a key and core player in the team. There are different methods to practice staying calm at work, it includes taking deep breaths, short breaks between work, speaking to colleagues, or even taking snacks!
It is a good gesture of offer to help out the boss or your team, when they are facing a lot of stress. This would help to keep the whole department more focused and productive.
3. Be Honest to Your Boss at Work
When your boss asks you about your work progress or getting feedback on projects, always give honest answers. You are the one closer to the ground and knowing the pain point for it, giving feedback on it would help to improve the situations in future. If you are not honest and give proper suggestions, you would just be a YES man to the company. Eventually, you will be the one suffering from it. As mentioned in an earlier point, always come up with a solution, and explain to your boss what you can do to get better and more ideal results in the future.
4. Hold Accountability at Work
Do not blame others when work messes up or fails. Instead, demonstrate your accountability in taking up the challenge to sort out what went wrong, and rectify it. Make sure that there are always key takeaways from each project, be it a success one or a failure one. Accountability is increasingly rare at work, and it would showcase that you are willing to embrace failure in hard times.
5. Be Positive Force
Spreading and keeping positive vibes at work is important to create good team spirit. Think, speak and act in a good manner When everyone is complaining about work, find things that could workaround. It would make you valuable and set you apart. The positive mindset from you would help you, and your boss would be more likely to support you. Know yourself more.
6. Show your caring
Showing caring can be on two levels, work and personal. On work wise, you may tactfully offer to help your boss if he or she is currently facing a lot of stress and high workload. Whereas on a personal level, demonstrate an interest in their happiness and well being. You may ask them how their family is doing, and how their last holiday trip was. The key to this is empathy, the ability of putting yourself into their point of view, and understanding how they think and feel. It is helpful in maintaining and strengthening relationships with anyone.
Some of the Don’ts for managing your boss
- Don’t engage in conversation with your boss when you are mad, upset or thrilled.. It is very likely that you may overpromise or speak in a bad tone to your boss. Wait until you get calm down
- Don’t go to your boss with a list of complaints. Always remember, you are there to be a problem solver. Always come with practical suggestions whenever you can. Brief your boss on the whole context by telling what is happening, what you did, what help you would need.
- Don’t assume. You would not be able to read someone else’s mind. If you have questions, always ask. If you have key info, always validate it before passing it.
- Most importantly, do not bash and complain about your boss to other employees. This would be the taboo at work. Always convert negative thoughts to positive thinking.
Bottom Line:
Keys of managing your boss:
Effective Communication
and Empathy
Everyone has their own issues at work, so does your boss. Working closely with your boss, by keeping good communication: raise issues at work, provide sensible solutions before consultation and showing caring at work. Work gets easier for you when you are able to manage your boss. The result can be an effective team, and good career progression.