So you don’t like your boss. Well, you’re not alone. A common theme we hear is that many employees feel their boss is a near intolerable problem for them and who regularly affects their job negatively.
And to further complicate this, leadership (over arching the boss) has a major impact on the organization. Bad leadership permeates throughout the organization and creates stress, discomfort, cynicism and lack of trust in the employees. All of which leads to poor organizational performance and instability in the work place. Employees know this – and they know it better than their leaders.
So, as an employee in an organization where you believe your boss is a bad manager or difficult to work with, what truly are your options? There are four:
- Change your boss
- Change organizations
- Do nothing
- Learn how to work (and cope) with your boss
For many, changing their boss –that is “firing” your boss and finding another one in the organization or quitting the organization to find a new job—for many are not viable options. And in this slow job growth, post recession recovery, changing jobs is realistically challenging. So, many employees choose to do nothing and live with it. There is, however, another option: learn how to be a good follower and learn how to work with and manage your boss – by that we mean, learn how to cope to your highest ability.
Being a good follower, we find, is anathema to some employees. Whether it is pride, stubbornness, or some other behavioral trait, people almost feel insulted when we talk about being a good follower. To some it sounds demeaning. Yet, ignoring the situation, complaining about it, holding back on your best performance (to show them and teach them a lesson that they can’t mess with you) is an absurd, childish and ultimately disempowering strategy. And it causes you significantly more harm than it causes the boss. The reality is we are all followers at some point in our jobs: Directors report to Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents to Presidents, Presidents to the Board and Boards to stakeholders in the business.
Simply stated – if you can’t change the boss and you can’t change your job, then you need to change how you follow.
In this week’s Quick Tips we will describe common boss behavior and we will present strategies you can use to deal with these behaviors and improve your outlook and performance in your organization.
Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest
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