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Manage Up As Well As Down

Written by: Bill Gschwind

Article Overview: Successfully managing your boss is vital to your career.

Manage Up As Well As Down

If you want that next promotion, you have to manage your boss. The quality of your work is important. The depth of your relationship with your boss could trump all the energy you put into professional effectiveness if you take that relationship for granted. What does it mean to ‘manage your boss’?

First, understand the context in which your boss is working. Begin with specific goals and objectives, of both the company and your boss. When you understand how your task helps your boss achieve the goals, you can design your approach to do more than simply complete the task.

Is your boss under any pressures at work? These pressures could be coming from within the organization or from the outside. If you can help relieve some of those pressures, or at least understand from where they are coming, you’ll be a more valued partner.

All of us have areas of strength and areas of weakness. By understanding where your help is most valuable to your boss, you can compliment his strength or overcome his weakness. Helping your boss become more effective in the organization will pay dividends for you as his career grows.

Take the time to understand your boss’s preferred work style. If your supervisor expects to be updated on a regular basis, regardless of your progress, keep her in the loop. If she expects to give you an assignment and not hear back unless there is a problem or when the task is complete, give her space. Failure to understand and respect her style will make it more difficult for her to trust you with critical issues.

Second, assess yourself and your needs. Just as your boss has strengths and weakness, so do you. When you understand yourself, you’ll ask for help when you need it and lend assistance where you can. Your natural style may conflict with your boss’s style making it difficult to work together. For example, members of generation X tend to be more independent workers. They prefer to be assigned a task and then left alone until it is completed. Gen Y’s, on the other hand, generally need constant feedback and validation. When a gen Y demands constant feedback from his gen X boss, the boss gets irritated. If the gen X boss doesn’t check in frequently on the gen Y’s progress, the gen Y feels ignored and slighted.

Finally, develop and maintain a relationship that meets the needs of both you and your boss. The relationship needs to respect each of your needs and styles. You will both understand the expectations of the other and accommodate. You’ll keep your boss in the loop, to the extent that she needs and wants to be in that loop. This type of relationship is based on dependability and honesty giving both of you what you need and want. You’ll both be more successful and more satisfied.

Successful management of your boss serves many functions. It advances the organization and your boss’s value to the company. You just might find yourself getting that next promotion much sooner than you expected.

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Article Tags: boss, compliment, critical issues, dividends, example members, generation x, goals and objectives, independent workers, natural style, preferred work style, professional effectiveness, relationship, space failure, strengths and weakness, supervisor
Referred by: http://www.processspecialist.com/



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