Knowing how to handle your superiors may well be one of the greatest skills you need to have at work. Your boss holds the power of life and death (in a manner of speaking) over your career.
He/she determines who is promoted or fired. Fortunately, we can control how our bosses perceive us to a very large extent. I usually tell colleagues at work that it is the duty of the subordinate to manage up his/her superior. It is not only subordinates that need to be managed.
Managing people is actually a three-way thing: managing upwards (your superiors), managing downwards (your subordinates) and managing sideways (your colleagues). The most critical is managing upwards. More people fail at managing upwards than downwards.
It will be crass ignorance to leave things to chance when you can influence the impressions your superiors form about you.
Managing upwards is not about manipulating or controlling your boss. It should not be misconstrued as eye service. It is an aspect of emotional intelligence that you can leverage on to improve your career.
Your boss determines so many things about your career. If you’re going to work for others, you will always have a boss no matter how highly placed you are.
So here are the the Ten Commandments of Managing Your Boss:
1. Recognize that your boss is not perfect.
Your boss is human- no matter how highly placed. He/she can make mistakes. Bosses are not infallible. The best of bosses still have feet of clay. Make allowances for their foibles.
I expect my supervisor to make mistakes. Which human doesn’t? I manage my expectations using this particular law. I am therefore not too disappointed when certain things happen. I judge them the same way I judge myself- by giving them allowances to make errors.
I cut them some slack and this helps me to apply discretion in my assessment of them.
2. Understand your boss.
It is your duty to study and understand the person you report to. People are different and so are their styles. How do they prefer to communicate? Some bosses love to communicate one-on-one. Some prefer e-mails. Others prefer phone conversations.
What’s the most effective way to reach your boss? What’s his/her style? When is the best time to get your issues across to them?
Study their moods. What do they like or dislike? What irks them? It’s better to understand your boss than to seek to change them.
Most of them are already set in their ways and attempting to change them is an error in futility. Your life will become easier when you understand you can’t change your boss but you can understand them.
3. Give your boss credit. Always.
There is no human on earth who doesn’t like to be praised. I learnt this law very early in my career. Always make your boss look good. Truth is if your boss looks good, so do you. If your boss looks bad, so do you.
A superior will never forget any subordinate who makes him/her look good. Anytime I’m doing a presentation at work with my bosses present, I start by acknowledging them and I find a way to give the credit for that presentation to my direct boss.
That does two things: the boss you gave credit to will be delighted and you’ll also have his/her support for that deal/transaction- after all, they have taken ownership by receiving the credits.
Give your boss that feeling that you’re not in competition with him/her and you can get away with almost anything.
4. Loyalty is 120% or nothing
Listen to a truth today: When it comes to choosing between loyalty and competence for leaders, many will choose loyalty. I’m not saying this is the right thing to do but it is what it is. Loyalty is actually a very scarce commodity.
Many confuse eye service with loyalty. A loyal person is the same whether in the presence of the boss or outside of it. Loyalty is not dependent on circumstances or location. You are firm in your support and unwavering in your commitment.
Never speak ill of your boss and don’t keep company with those who do. No one should ever have to say ‘ you said or didn’t say’.
A loyal person is never double-mouthed. Work in such a way that your boss does not have to watch his/her back. If he has to look over his shoulder with you, you will always have to look over your own shoulder too.
I tell people that when I report to any boss, my loyalty is to the company and also to my boss. A loyal person is not necessarily a ‘yes’ man. A loyal person can disagree with your methods but is ready to offer full support to the outcome.
5. Convert your complaints to practical suggestions
When you have a complaint, do it in a positive manner to get better results. There will be areas of disagreement with your boss. You’re not a zombie. You won’t always like their methods.
However, learn to disagree in private and never in public. Don’t put down your boss in public. Don’t try to prove him wrong. Rather, approach him/her and look for ways to bring out practical suggestions from those knotty areas.
Use words of affirmation. Be positive in your outlook. Rather than say, ‘It’s impossible’, say ‘it looks challenging’.
A few days ago, I stopped by at my father's office to check on him and also give him a copy of my new book 40 Lessons I Learnt Along The Way. I also gave him the audio-book copy for him to play in his car.
I had to wait for him a bit as he was out of office. That period gave me the opportunity to reflect on my relationship with my father. When I gave him a copy of my book, I saw the joy that radiated from his face.
He looked at the book and prayed for me. As I said amen to his prayers, several thoughts passed through my mind.
I saw a guy in front of a lectern. I almost turned back as I thought a church was holding a meeting there. I didn’t know the guy was a staff monitoring those going in and coming out. As I entered, he asked for my room.
I moved closer to where the food was displayed. I always loved their food because of the vast choice. But something looked different this morning. I assumed they were still going to bring more. It was my favourite hotel and the breakfast was my primary reason. Always buffet.
I picked one of the spoons to serve myself. One of the ladies approached me and said, ‘I will serve you, sir’. Serve me? Nigba wo ni gbogbo iyen bere? When did this one start? She served me a few pieces of yam. And then put some fish stew.
#21Lessonsin21years: ‘People Might Not Like You But Never Give Them The Opportunity To Say You Don’t Know Your Job’ (2)
This morning, I had a conversation with a colleague at work. He shared 3 things his former boss told him. He said they have been the foundation of his career.
First: People might not like you but never give them the opportunity to say you don’t know your job.
Second: You are too young for office politics: don’t get involved.
Third: No one should ever say, ‘You said or didn’t say’.
I’ll focus on the first piece of advise.
I worked with a superior some years back whom I thought was just looking for the easiest of excuses to get rid of me. It was a very tough situation then that I didn’t look forward to going to work each day.
We had a deadline. An impossible one. Turn around the branch in 30 days or get fired. The countdown had started. I was a Team Lead and I saw the pains in the eyes of my Branch Manager.
We had to do all we could to meet the deadline. We ran all over town, trying to pull the chest out of fire. Nothing seemed to work.
I came to church that Sunday feeling very drained. I was tired and had given up. Will my career end this way? We had a Guest Minister that Sunday - a popular architect- who also has a church in Ibadan. After the service, he went into our Pastor’s office and I requested to see him
Exactly 21 years ago, I started my career in banking.
That’s was May 30, 2000.
I was 25 years and a graduate of mechanical engineering. I was scared because I didn’t know what the future held.
I have worked for 7 financial institutions and across various units and locations. I have been a teller (cashier), a clearing officer, a funds transfer officer, an account officer/relationship officer, a team lead, a branch manager and Regional Head among other functions
I have worked across various States in Nigeria. I have covered the entire South West and I have worked in Lagos. There are only a few states in Nigeria that I’ve not visited in the course of my career. It has been a very interesting journey.
At Mexico 70, Pele was at his best but he infamously missed
a goal after literarily dribbling and undressing the keeper
during the semi-final match against Uruguay.
Roberto Baggio still remains one of Italy's best players but during USA 94, he missed the very last penalty during the final match
between Italy and Brazil. His miss gifted Brazil the World
Cup.
During the game against South Korea at the South Africa
2010 World Cup, Yakubu Aiyegbeni missed what could be
described as one of the easiest goals of the tournament. It
became one of the greatest misses in football
history.