Posted on 09/01/2007 4:25:43 PM PDT by shrinkermd
So you think your boss is inept, arrogant or just plain lazy? You're not alone. A recent Gallup Poll found that a bad relationship with the boss was the No. 1 reason people gave for leaving their jobs. But if you want to keep moving up the corporate rungs, you better make nice.
Having an antagonistic relationship with your supervisor is a career killer, says Cynthia Shapiro, author of the book "Corporate Confidential." "No matter how skilled you are, if you don't have a good relationship with your boss, your job is not secure," warns Shapiro...
...So how can you overcome your natural aversion to being told what to do? The trick is to treat your boss like a client, says Shapiro. Pretend like you're in business for yourself and that your boss is your most important (and quite possibly your most difficult) client.
Ask how you can provide quality service, and what you can do to differentiate yourself from the competition. And then do it. When he says or does something that leaves you feeling disgruntled, treat him as you would any other client: respectfully. Remind yourself that your livelihood depends on pleasing your client.
(Excerpt) Read more at careerjournal.com ...
However, be prepared to drop a dime on higher level supervisors or executives at the drop of a hat ~ all federal police agencies have anonymous tipster lines of some kind.
Remember, your promotion through the lower grades in a fixed personnel complement system will frequently depend on a high degree of job churning at the upper levels.
Attend the "early retirement" parties. Have a good time.
I’ve almost always gotten along well with my bosses. It does pay off.
Sounds ridiculously simple now. But I honestly had no idea my real function was to make my immediate superior look good.
I’ve been blessed. I’ve only had one really bad boss along the way, and we hung him with his own rope years ago, LOL!
And that’s counting a 20-year military career, so that’s saying something!
The one I have now is terrific. She’s totally “hands off” and trusts me to do my job. HOWEVER, I have found that ‘The Secret to My Success’ lies in still checking in with her weekly as to what I’m up to and to reassure her that all is well. :)
Sucking up: It’s always appropriate and never uncalled for.
AS long as you gotta work for someone else.
Its tough passing this kind of advise off to your kid, but its probably the best advise a parent could offer.
As my old man used to say I would rather be a CPO than an Admiral.
Ironically, few people realize that what pleases a typical, ordinary boss is not what you might think. (And most companies would prefer that there employees not know this.)
The #1 most important thing as far as most bosses are concerned is that an employee does not make work for them. And not just physical or paperwork, either. No emotional work or even energy expended thinking about them, is what makes for the “best” employees.
Actual assigned work that is not objective, like fixing things or building things, is often an illusion. Employees are often punished by their boss for doing things they think are helpful:
1) Working efficiently and faster than other employees.
2) Performing more work than other employees.
3) Actively soliciting work and jockeying for responsibility.
4) Helping others to do their work.
While these are clearly helpful on the surface, they annoy a lot of bosses, because they force them to pay attention and expend energy.
The reason is that most bosses are like regular employees. They see work as just a way to make money, with their real life being when they are not working. Anything that adds stress or requires more of a commitment at work is not good.
An enthusiastic employee to a boss is like a hyperactive child is to a school teacher, a disruption that makes their job harder.
So as long as an employee is well kempt, polite, and out of the way enough that the boss likes to see them when they do show up, they are far more likely to be highly rated, and are seen by the boss more as a peer than a subordinate.
As a final irony, unlike the typical employees under foot, the out of sight employee is more likely to be rated on actual objective criteria, than the subjective criteria used on employees the boss has to “deal with” frequently. And this in turn leads to a higher rating.
And this is one place where unions have a purpose.... taking on inept bosses.
I object to this line. The problem isn't being told what to do. It's being told to do what is obviously wrong by someone who will throw you under the buss whether you do it or not.
My current boss is great. Unfortunately, this is not the norm.
(Highwater pants are a career killer, too)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
This is all nice and fine if moving up the ladder is your highest priority in your career, above your integrity, sense of fairness, and just plain good sense. Helping your boss stab someone in the back, or looking the other way when he does, or allowing him/her to place there personal whims above the law or regulations, or just plain fairness, may get you the promotion someday.....living with yourself afterward is a different story. Answering to God in the end could be quite shocking.
There are very few in upper managment that I respect much because they have had to sell out what I believe to be higher values than career success. However, there are those that get to the top clean, and I have great respect for them.
Its just a career. Something to enrich your life while here on earth, but not the pie itself.
This is the best post of all so far. Sounds like you work for the government. Not only does working effeciently cause problems in all workplaces. The more you do the more you get; yet everyone takes home a paycheck on payday. I have found working for your own self-satisfaction is the best policy. Pay no attention to production around you and responsibly do your job. Challenges within your job classification are easy to find if you are looking for them. And you have to learn to eat cake!
You are running right along side post 13. Either one of you have it down pat. I am in agreement.
Try having a boss that hits on you, and then takes it out on you when you don’t go out with him.
That was one of my first bosses. I didn’t complain officially about him, but a woman was hired to be my boss’ boss. She found out how he was treating me, and my boss got demoted.
I was lucky that my office mate and other co-workers saw what was going on. They told my boss’ boss.
If personal social desires are more important to your boss than what the company needs, go to the next job. Most jobs are only temporary projects for most employees and contractors.
I worked your strategy on a slightly different level......myself also not wishing to accept the demands of moving higher in the management chain....
As an Engineering Group Middle Manager, I had an almost unlimited budget to hire anyone I really wanted, with the authority to name many 1st and 2nd line Engineering or Manufacturing managers...
Well, I wanted ONLY those from the top 5% of the graduating class from the top Engineering Graduate Schools.
Over more that 20 years, I had amassed clearly the most talented and successful Engineers on the plant site of a VERY large Worldwide High Tech corporation.
They moved quickly beyond my own organization — into positions as high as Directors, Vice Presidents and a couple of Presidents of large business groups within the corporation....
My last 10 years with the corporation, were GOLDEN...
I had my choice of assignments, locations, travel, office space, unchallenged expense accounts/statements, etc, etc.......
Everyone around KNEW the history, and KNEW that many of the managers up their line of management were proteges of mine..
My 6 was covered like a blanket and my salary far exceed my true contribution to the corporation...
The mistake too many managers make, is to hire folks they feel will not threaten their own job...
This is wrong headed.
One should hire the brightest he can afford.
It makes one’s job easier and more interesting to see how a brighter person attacks the problems that are presented....
I never had to commit any ethical compromise or betrayal - I simply added greater emphasis to the perspective of my boss in my decision making process.
Nothing wrong with wanting as stress free work environment as possible, and a steady paycheck comes in handy when trying to raise a family...
My theory is simple, if you want to move up, produce more than you are currently being paid for.
Someone had to actually think about this?
There is a reason behind the old saying that s*** rolls down hill.
There was one place I worked at, the surest way to get promoted was to be the minion of whoever was senior to you, and do their bidding without regard to the policy and official objectives of the organization. After a while I could not stomach the place any more
At another place, I was informed by my manager that one of my most important jobs, as technical lead, was to convince the people under me that the latest management initiative was the greatest thing since sliced bread, without regard to my personal opinion. One reason why I stayed with software consulting rather than moving into the management hierarchy, even turning down the CTO slot at a reasonably large company
I’ll thrown in another big no-no - never show your boss any loss of control. Never let yourself be perceived as being governed by emotion.
My boss is a lazy liar who finds fault with everything I do - even when I do exactly what he told me to do.
I have more degrees than he does, I am better at my job than he was when he had it, and the guy drinks like a fish.
How do I survive?
He doesn't know that I am out the door on October 1. I have a job offer at twice the money working for a person I respect. When I took vacation this year - first time in 8 years on the job - the guy threw a fit. When I give him 2 weeks notice, I expect he will do the same. But, it's not my problem.
And often, regarding _some_ managers, the old saying "Scum Floats".
Would this advice apply to someone working in the healthcare industry; or, more specifically, to someone working in the healthcare industry... on a member of your family?
What about the airline industry... a mechanic, for instance?
Obviously not, that’s just plain stupid.
One example I can remember is a boss telling me to paint a certain part a color that those parts just didn’t come in. I asked him once if he was sure and accepted his yes.
I would do one of my famous 15 min interviews, the Utility Biz is also very small and incestuous in my area there are no secrets and the people I hired had to have experience. I had no high flyer's but those that survived did well.
And in other news — underwear is worn under your clothing and each shoe should be on the proper foot.
So effing true!
Small minded people hire people who they feel will not threaten them or be more talented by them. What they end up with is a vortex of ineptitude, and an eventual pink slip.
Duh
As a stranger coming into a work environment, I can tell you that I have been plopped down in front of 500K systems that I didn’t know how to use and nobody was willing to show me, gotten the lowdown on everybody in less than three minutes at a desk, or watched a grown man cry because his long-time secretary walked out on him one Friday and never came back. Being a corporate temp is alot like being the night shift waitress at a truck stop...the sights you see when you don’t have a gun!
Just wait till you have three owners (bosses). Snively Whiplash, Uriah Heep and Boss Hogg. It’s not about your perceptions.
I clicked on this link figuring it was a warning to politicians to beware offending their constituencies.
Why isn’t it?
Yes, integrity is very important. A survey of 1500 mid-managers found that “integrity” was the overwhelming number one attribute of successful employees.
Or people skills, or career, You just get the heck out.
Ask how you can provide quality service, and what you can do to differentiate yourself from the competition. And then do it. "
I had the same thoughts just recently. It can work with difficult co-workers too! : )
Depending what the “something stupid” is, I disagree.
Most obvious headline of the week. If your boss is a jerk, either pretend you like him or quit. Same applies to having a bad teacher in school. We’re all forced to get along with some real turds at some point in our lives.
My boss was always happy with me as long as nobody went to him complaining about me. I did my job competently, without any chest-beating, and I didn’t pi** anybody off. This made him treasure me, because he had SO many prima donnas working for him that he expended most of his time having to deal with the fallout from them.
Such person is highly insecure and will never admit to any uncertainty concerning a matter. They cannot give proper direction. They are unable to distinguish between 5 minute and 5 day tasks and generally spend their careers squandering human capital.
Unfortunately, this is par for life in a large corporation, especially once the frat boys and sorority sisters take over.
One year at the Christmas party my wife had a few martinis and had a "talk" with my boss. The next day I was issued a written warning.
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