Please your Boss is not being Pleasing but Managing him Skillfully
The title of : "How To Please Your Boss" can be tricky as it pertains to career success. Let me begin by stating that I am retired and have been a boss and a management development trainer. The perspective enclosed is a combination of personal experiences as a manager and trainer and personal observations over the years.
Let me begin be stating that to please your boss by being pleasing applies to those bosses that want only "yes" men. If an employee is a "yes man", the chances for survival may be okay with the right boss but limited in promotion as there is no expansion of the comfort zone and the ability to take the risks of true leaders. From this point forward, let me share three ways to please bosses.
- Use of Diagnostic Skills. Like a doctor, diagnose before offering a prescription. Here, it means to learn what makes your boss tick. Is your boss a taskmaster? Then produce projects on or before deadline. Is your boss authoritative without being an authoritarian? Then don't be afraid to be assertive in a skillful and be able to deliver bad news. Is your boss dictatorial or an authoritarian? Then with tough boss you must not fight his fire with fire back as the chain of command and hierarchy will doom your effort and could be suicidal.
- Be a Producer. Go beyond doing what you say by doing without saying. Motivational speaker Anthony Robbins said, " We tend to judge ourselves by our intentions. People judge us by our actions". Intentions are expressed by words. To follow up on words is the practice of integrity. This insures credibility with coworkers as well as bosses. Not saying and just doing is even one step beyond. Regardless of your bosses managerial style, all of them are pleased when their staff produces on time and love it when completed before deadline.
- Be a Problem Solver. In my personal experiences as a manager and with other managers, it is difficult when staff come in and sharer a problem expecting a manager to solve what is owned by the staff member. As an alternative, managers are pleased when an employee reports a problem and then suggests a solution even if the solution falls share of being fully workable.
The combination of three suggestions relates to managing your boss. If performed skillfully, you may go beyond to pleasing to promotion. And someday you will your bosses boss!
