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Member You - Managing Your Boss: 4 Rules To Live By and 4 Steps To Take
Ah, email. Since its invention, communication has greatly changed. We email our employers. We email our employees. We email our friends. We email our family. Perhaps we even email, after a few bottles of wine, our pets. Email has changed our lives and the future of email will likely even change it more. Soon, there may be no need to ever even speak.While email is a great way to stay in touch with everyone, and a great way to assure those we love wellness, enormous fortune, and luck if they forward a chain letter within two hours, it is also the cornerstone of business. Businessmen and Businesswomen, especially when they are away from their office, may rely on email as their number one mode of communication.Emailing for business comes with a certain etiquette that emailing on a personal level does not. When emailing friends and family, using terms such as “LOL,” sending forwards, and sending mass emails to everyone from your dentist to your third grade soccer coach are all okay. But, in business, these things aren’t very appropriate. Sending s
Applying this step doesn't mean that you have to change your style or personality. However, it does mean that you need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with your manager's expectations.
Step Three: Understand your boss
You don't have to become lifelong friends with your boss, but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try to develop strategies for the following:
- How does he/she like to receive information? When? What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture? Give it that way.
- What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.
- What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?
- What's the boss' central goal? How can you assist?
- What are his/her main pressures? How can you help minimize these?
- How does your bos
After the holidays, cables and wires are often a site for sore eyes amidst the influx of new high-tech toys, gadgets, and accessories. Thankfully, homeowners can utilize a few quick steps to restore function and design to their living rooms and home offices. Supplies: Cable Ties(also known as Wire Ties) Cable Tie Installation Tool Electrical Tape or Heat Shrink Tubing Adhesive Back Mounting Bases Surge Protector Step-by-Step Instructions: Start by unplugging and detangling all of the cables and cords. Apply electrical tape or heat shrink tubing to any frayed cords and pull the cables together to a single meeting point. Use the cable tie installation tool to fit a cable tie around the meeting point. Every four to six inches, fit cable ties or wire ties to ensure the cords stay together. Using adhesive back mounting bases can help hide the bundle by attaching it to inconspicuous nooks in the desk, shelf, or entertainment center. Plug the cords into the surge prot
You see, John's pet interest was marketing and he expected all of his people to make this their number one priority.
Do you know what your manager's number one or key priorities are?
Although we often have performance discussions with our manager, how clear are we on the order of priority they have for each area of our performance? How clear are they themselves about their "expectations" of us? These "expectations" are often unwritten and in fact may be somewhat different to the formal performance requirements of the role.
So, what's the best way to manage the relationship with your boss? There are two aspects of this; firstly four clear action steps that you can plan for and take at the start of your working partnership and secondly, four "rules" that you should follow in all your dealings with your boss to ensure a productive working relationship is maintained.
Step One: Agree your manager's expectations of you
A simple way of doing this, is to have a discussion with him or her (preferably soon after you start in the role). Ask your manager;
• "What are the top three priorities in the role that you would like me to focus on?"
• Or, if you have a formal performance discussion, ask your manager to assign a percentage figure of "importance" against each one of your key responsibility areas (each area should be given a percentage out of a total for all areas of 100%) so that you can assess his or her priorities. You should also ask "Why this is so important?" as the answer will give you a lot of good clues for developing the relationship.
Should this discussion merely be a repeat of the formal performance requirements of your role, then you will need to gather some of the "unwritten" ways your boss will assess both you and your performance. Sometimes, the boss may not even be consciously aware of these expectations, but none the less they will be there. One good way of doing this is to ask him or her to explain their ideal employee. You can do this with a question such as: "You've probably had many good people working for you previously. What is it about these people that you particularly liked?" If you want some more information, you can always ask your manager to describe some of the characteristics and behaviours of their most disappointing employees.
Step Two: Assess yourself
What is it about you that impedes or facilitates working with your boss? Draw up a (short) list of "Things that I like about working with my boss" and "Things that I don't like about working with my boss". Work out some ways to overcome, or at least manage, the things that you don't like, for these are probably the areas that your boss is least happy with. If necessary, ask some of your peers for assistance, particularly those who seem to have a good relationship with him or her.
You should also review the information about your manager's ideal employee and most disappointing employee that you obtained in step one. What will you need to do to ensure that you take account of your manager's likes and dislikes in his or her employees?
Applying this step doesn't mean that you have to change your style or personality. However, it does mean that you need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with your manager's expectations.
Step Three: Understand your boss
You don't have to become lifelong friends with your boss, but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try to develop strategies for the following:
- How does he/she like to receive information? When? What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture? Give it that way.
- What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.
- What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?
- What's the boss' central goal? How can you assist?
- What are his/her main pressures? How can you help minimize these?
- How does your bos
As an international centre of business, the City of London hosts countless business events and conventions at any given time of the year. Moreover, many UK and worldwide business’ headquarters are based in London, prompting routine and special business meetings to take place in the city. Consequently, the city of London is well practiced at catering to the business industry and providing its fleeting business commuters with the best accommodation and business facilities available.Certainly, one thing that London's business travellers will never have trouble finding is suitable accommodation. And whilst hotels which cater specifically to business travellers can be found all across the city, an increasing number of these travellers are choosing to stay in London's various airport hotels - and with good reason, as there are various benefits to staying in an airport hotel while on your business trip to London.For instance, on arriving in London, you won’t have to endure another leg of your journey in an effort to wade through the hectic London tr
Do you know what your manager's number one or key priorities are?
Although we often have performance discussions with our manager, how clear are we on the order of priority they have for each area of our performance? How clear are they themselves about their "expectations" of us? These "expectations" are often unwritten and in fact may be somewhat different to the formal performance requirements of the role.
So, what's the best way to manage the relationship with your boss? There are two aspects of this; firstly four clear action steps that you can plan for and take at the start of your working partnership and secondly, four "rules" that you should follow in all your dealings with your boss to ensure a productive working relationship is maintained.
Step One: Agree your manager's expectations of you
A simple way of doing this, is to have a discussion with him or her (preferably soon after you start in the role). Ask your manager;
• "What are the top three priorities in the role that you would like me to focus on?"
• Or, if you have a formal performance discussion, ask your manager to assign a percentage figure of "importance" against each one of your key responsibility areas (each area should be given a percentage out of a total for all areas of 100%) so that you can assess his or her priorities. You should also ask "Why this is so important?" as the answer will give you a lot of good clues for developing the relationship.
Should this discussion merely be a repeat of the formal performance requirements of your role, then you will need to gather some of the "unwritten" ways your boss will assess both you and your performance. Sometimes, the boss may not even be consciously aware of these expectations, but none the less they will be there. One good way of doing this is to ask him or her to explain their ideal employee. You can do this with a question such as: "You've probably had many good people working for you previously. What is it about these people that you particularly liked?" If you want some more information, you can always ask your manager to describe some of the characteristics and behaviours of their most disappointing employees.
Step Two: Assess yourself
What is it about you that impedes or facilitates working with your boss? Draw up a (short) list of "Things that I like about working with my boss" and "Things that I don't like about working with my boss". Work out some ways to overcome, or at least manage, the things that you don't like, for these are probably the areas that your boss is least happy with. If necessary, ask some of your peers for assistance, particularly those who seem to have a good relationship with him or her.
You should also review the information about your manager's ideal employee and most disappointing employee that you obtained in step one. What will you need to do to ensure that you take account of your manager's likes and dislikes in his or her employees?
Applying this step doesn't mean that you have to change your style or personality. However, it does mean that you need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with your manager's expectations.
Step Three: Understand your boss
You don't have to become lifelong friends with your boss, but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try to develop strategies for the following:
- How does he/she like to receive information? When? What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture? Give it that way.
- What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.
- What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?
- What's the boss' central goal? How can you assist?
- What are his/her main pressures? How can you help minimize these?
- How does your bos
When is the last time you worked on a day or evening that you had set aside to do something with your family and went to an appointment or party instead? How did you feel when you were there? Did you feel a little angry for letting the people who are most important in your life down? It's not a great feeling is it?One of the most important things I took into consideration when I was beginning my job in Direct Sales was that I needed something that I could work around my family and other obligations. It would be a lot different from what I was accustomed to which was working my family and other obligations around my job! This is what draws a lot of people into the Direct Selling business! Yet, there are so many consultants that are so afraid to set limits with others for fear of losing business if they don't work when the customer or hostess wants that it absolutely amazes me!I consistently held three to four parties a week for approximately 48 weeks of the year (4 weeks vacation wasn't bad) for over 22 years! Yet I never worked a day or eveni
• "What are the top three priorities in the role that you would like me to focus on?"
• Or, if you have a formal performance discussion, ask your manager to assign a percentage figure of "importance" against each one of your key responsibility areas (each area should be given a percentage out of a total for all areas of 100%) so that you can assess his or her priorities. You should also ask "Why this is so important?" as the answer will give you a lot of good clues for developing the relationship.
Should this discussion merely be a repeat of the formal performance requirements of your role, then you will need to gather some of the "unwritten" ways your boss will assess both you and your performance. Sometimes, the boss may not even be consciously aware of these expectations, but none the less they will be there. One good way of doing this is to ask him or her to explain their ideal employee. You can do this with a question such as: "You've probably had many good people working for you previously. What is it about these people that you particularly liked?" If you want some more information, you can always ask your manager to describe some of the characteristics and behaviours of their most disappointing employees.
Step Two: Assess yourself
What is it about you that impedes or facilitates working with your boss? Draw up a (short) list of "Things that I like about working with my boss" and "Things that I don't like about working with my boss". Work out some ways to overcome, or at least manage, the things that you don't like, for these are probably the areas that your boss is least happy with. If necessary, ask some of your peers for assistance, particularly those who seem to have a good relationship with him or her.
You should also review the information about your manager's ideal employee and most disappointing employee that you obtained in step one. What will you need to do to ensure that you take account of your manager's likes and dislikes in his or her employees?
Applying this step doesn't mean that you have to change your style or personality. However, it does mean that you need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with your manager's expectations.
Step Three: Understand your boss
You don't have to become lifelong friends with your boss, but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try to develop strategies for the following:
- How does he/she like to receive information? When? What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture? Give it that way.
- What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.
- What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?
- What's the boss' central goal? How can you assist?
- What are his/her main pressures? How can you help minimize these?
- How does your bos
Warehouses are business buildings that are used to store goods and materials. Many manufacturers, traders, importers, customs, exporters, and wholesalers use warehouses to store their items. Warehouses are generally plain large buildings, which are located in the industrial parts of the towns and have loading docks for loading and unloading vehicles. Sometimes loading is done directly from airports, railways, or the seaports. These warehouses generally use cranes and forklifts, which are based on the standardization of the ISO.Mattresses are products or a piece of bedding, which is used while sleeping. They are made from many materials like foam, natural and synthetic fibers, and spring. Mattresses are difficult to maintain, especially if they consist of different delicate materials such as latex foam and viscoelastic foam. Mattresses, which are made in bulk, are generally stored in warehouses. There are special warehouses built particularly for the storage of mattresses, of all possible sizes and types. Mattress warehouses are located in areas that
Step Two: Assess yourself
What is it about you that impedes or facilitates working with your boss? Draw up a (short) list of "Things that I like about working with my boss" and "Things that I don't like about working with my boss". Work out some ways to overcome, or at least manage, the things that you don't like, for these are probably the areas that your boss is least happy with. If necessary, ask some of your peers for assistance, particularly those who seem to have a good relationship with him or her.
You should also review the information about your manager's ideal employee and most disappointing employee that you obtained in step one. What will you need to do to ensure that you take account of your manager's likes and dislikes in his or her employees?
Applying this step doesn't mean that you have to change your style or personality. However, it does mean that you need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with your manager's expectations.
Step Three: Understand your boss
You don't have to become lifelong friends with your boss, but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try to develop strategies for the following:
- How does he/she like to receive information? When? What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture? Give it that way.
- What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.
- What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?
- What's the boss' central goal? How can you assist?
- What are his/her main pressures? How can you help minimize these?
- How does your bos
Most people in very small businesses start their businesses from a passion. This an excellent place to start – assuming there is a need in the marketplace for what you are selling.A business associate of mine is a residential real estate agent in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California. She told me recently that there are 14,000 real estate agents in the San Fernando Valley!! Holy cow that's a lot! Anyone considering starting a real estate business in this geographic area should do a lot of research and hard thinking before getting their license.When you are deciding to start your business, the absolutely most important question you need to answer is: Is there a market for this? Big companies spend sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars on market research answering that question before introducing a new product. You have a fabulous tool at your disposal that is almost totally free – the internet. That can give you a good start in your research.The next very important question that requires an answer is: Who i
Applying this step doesn't mean that you have to change your style or personality. However, it does mean that you need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with your manager's expectations.
Step Three: Understand your boss
You don't have to become lifelong friends with your boss, but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try to develop strategies for the following:
- How does he/she like to receive information? When? What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture? Give it that way.
- What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.
- What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?
- What's the boss' central goal? How can you assist?
- What are his/her main pressures? How can you help minimize these?
- How does your boss handle conflict? How can you help (or avoid)?
Step Four: Recognise that there are differences in style and adapt
For example, you may have different personality styles; you may be an introvert, your boss may be an extrovert, or vice versa. This doesn't mean that you suddenly have to change, but please do think about his or her style and learn to manage it. For instance, extroverts like to work out problems by talking them through. So, if your boss is more extroverted, then it can be quite useful to talk through issues with him or her to reach a decision. Introverts on the other hand, like plenty of time to think about a problem and then discuss their ideas and possible solutions. If your boss is more introverted, then you will need to go to him or her with very well thought out proposals and recommendations – trying to reach a conclusion by talking the issues through with this style of manager will definitely not work. Make sure that you have a good understanding of both yours and your boss' style so that you can learn to manage the differences.
Implementing the above four steps with your boss will go a long way to building a solid foundation for the relationship.
In addition to these four steps, there are also four rules that I believe you should always follow in your ongoing relationship with him or her if you want it to be truly productive.
Rule One: There should be no surprises for your boss!
Keep your boss informed of what's happening in your area on a regular basis, particularly potential problems. If you are in doubt as to what to tell or not tell your boss, always ask yourself: "Would this information have an impact on my boss' position?" It's generally better to communicate too much than too little.
Rule Two: Never hide a problem
No matter how much you try, hidden problems will always come back to bite you (they are like lies – they will always find you out). Far better to be proactive. Keep in mind that you will help your situation if you present the information in a style that suits your boss; try to get the words "right" by communicating in a style that suits your boss' communication style.
Rule Three: Always do your homework
Before approaching your boss with a question or to ask for help, always do as much research as possible so that you have the complete facts. If he or she constantly has to send you away for more information, then you have not prepared properly. Try to bring your solutions or suggested solutions with you when presenting a problem on which you want some help. This will demonstrate to your boss that you are taking initiative although you may not have all the answers.
Rule Four: Do not underrate or undercut your boss
Present a united front – support your boss with others. Disagree with him/her in private, never in public.
Finally, remember the person who has most control over your immediate future (other than yourself) is your boss. Treat him or her with that respect. From my experience, following these four rules and implementing the four steps mentioned earlier, will ensure that your relationship with your boss is a very positive one. By following these boss management strategies with my manager John, I was able to turn around what had started out as a poor relationship. So much so, that when I decided to resign some time later to take up a better job offer, John tried hard to keep me as I had become one of his "ideal employees".
Copyright (c) 2007 The National Learning Institute
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