Understand,Deal and Communicating with Boss…

For every working Individual the Biggest Challenge of Professional Life is
How to Understand, Deal and Communicate effectively with Boss?
How to Communicate, What to Communicate what not to and How to influence him to say yes when he is in the mood to say No. Lets try figure out possible solutions to all these road blocks.
The basic challenge in front of maximum Subordinates is how to deal with a demanding boss. I bring these points to make your this boss become friendly rather demanding:-


Demanding Boss:-
A) Consider boss as a Business partner who fears a lot (almost maniac) about loosing. This fear of loosing makes him chase you day and night for a silliest thing in this world. Now to deal with this boss I give you thoughts to work upon. First avoid bringing problems in front of your boss if the Issue is highly critical which needs expert advice of your boss and may be an information to be passed on to the higher level management then only pass it to him after the problem bring lots and lots and lots of solution even the wildest and weirdest Ideas that you have discarded in your mind long ago, speak out it makes your boss think that you are working on the problem to solve and you need some assistance in getting the issue fixed.
B) Understand Values of your boss what he cherishes he is a perfectionist saying “You don’t worry about time I will handle what I want is Best?” or he is a Punctual  “I want this to be done within 2 Hours, errors and troubles I will handle you just handover product on time.
So now such bosses be handled according to the values they carry and the characteristics they display.
Now next trouble for a subordinate is how to Influence the Boss? For this you need to work on following three points:-

  • Understand Situation of the Boss.
  • Know what you can offer which Boss requires.
  • Use style that boss prefers.

Now addressing 1st bullet of Understanding Situation of a Boss I divide this into three parts—>

  1. Consider aspects of your Boss’s situation. Understand who he reports to what type of management at upper level put expectations on your boss. to deliver.
  2. Determine what your boss cares about. Obviously he wants the project be handled by lesser man power and you suggest hiring is a useless suggestion.
  3. Present Ideas and benefits in context to priorities/requirements of the boss. If a issue is faced in fixing a particular problem which has escalated to your boss you can provide possible workarounds to the issue. inform him that you will sit with him until the problem is resolved. Now that’s an intelligent way of increasing influence on your boss.

Moving to the 2nd bullet What you can offer your boss requires. Rather I modify the question as What Bosses Need?—>

  • Perform above and beyond what’s required.
  • Are a reliable source of Information (Official Information Not Spy on others).
  • Keep them informed about the problems.
  • Represent them accurately.
  • Act as a sounding board for them.
  • Are a source of new Ideas.
  • Support their decisions.
  • Are Encouraging.

The 3rd and the last bullet says Use Style that Boss Prefers this is quiet an interesting point and this is how I feel it work—>

  • Research and observe what motivates your boss.
  • Be direct sometimes in your approach and note the observation how he reacts to your direct question like:- Boss Why you seams a bit Angry Today? and act accordingly if he welcomes your direct question you got the way to move ahead or else try next method.
  • Bring openness and trust.
  • Need to be sincere in approach towards addressing a situation or a problem or your new role. This builds confidence in you.

Now consider a situation in which you are bored with your current role and position within the company and you are not getting promoted to enhance your role further within the company. You have two options here:-

A.) Leave the Company and move ahead in your career. I consider it as a option but I want to keep it as a backup option.
B.) Ask your boss for role enhancement or training to improve existing job task performance.
Steps for Influencing your Boss for Role Enhancement and Training:-

  1. Set aside time to talk to your boss.
  2. Assess what you want and Specify your request clearly.
  3. Describe your Plan.
  4. Point out the benefits to your boss if the request is granted.

 Plan:-

  • What is your observation about task.
  • What skills and knowledge required to perform this task and how you are going to acquire it. Training, guidance etc.
  • How will new challenge affect your current tasks and how you are going to handle it.
  • What you need to learn for this new job.

So to conclude what we captured points in this post:-
A. How to deal, communicate and understand your boss.
B. The pressure, values and tools in understanding boss as well as the communication methodology and finally the dealing with your boss.
C. How to influence and improve relationship with boss.
Hope my these advices will be helpful in making your work atmosphere conducive and improve/enhance your relationship with boss. Your suggestions, comments is essential to enrich the coverage of this post. So please share your experiences here to help each others in overcoming this these obstacles in professional life.

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