In terms of your advancement, promotion (or stagnation) and general welfare at work, the most important person outside of yourself is your boss. The relationships between bosses and their employees can be: close to distant, warm to cool, authoritarian to democratic, and open to closed, to name but a few relevant dimensions.
This could be devoted to the complexities of the boss-worker relationships, but there are two aspects which the worker would be well-advised to foster—trust and respect.
Trust, in the context of your relationship with your boss, essentially means that you can be trusted to carry out your duties effectively and on time. It also implies that you will be loyal to the organisation and to your boss. In operational terms, you can be given a task to do and you will accept the responsibility for seeing that it gets done. From the boss‘ perspective, trust in you means less need for worry about the job getting done.
Respect is an equally important consideration. Your boss will respect you for the work you do if it is done well. It is perfectly possible for your boss not to like you, but still respect you and your work. Of course, it is preferable to be liked and respected, but given that this is a problem clinic section, we will focus upon the negative side of the issue. What can you do to win your boss‘ respect? Here are some pointers.
- Be enthusiastic about your job. Do your best each day.
- Be conscientious. Do a fair day’s work for your pay.
- Be dependable. Get your work done on time.
- Be innovative. Look for ways in which you can improve yourself and your work.
- Be willing to accept additional responsibilities within your range of competency. Your boss may wish to delegate new duties to encourage growth at your job.
- Be aware of your limitations. If you are in doubt about your capabilities to perform a set task, ask for appropriate assistance.
- Be flexible and adaptable. If an urgent work matter arises or if overtime is requested, be co-operative.
The boss and your workmates will respect you and your competencies if you can demonstrate most of these qualities. If these objectives seem unattainable to you, observe co-workers for whom your boss has respect. What is your colleague doing to earn that respect? We live in a human laboratory and valuable lessons can be learned every day from those around us. Careful observation can make each day a step forward in managing your boss more constructively.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
The Relationships between Bosses and Employees: Problems with your boss?
- The Employee Who Goes Over Your Head
- Making the Grade in a New Position
- Deception and Those Who Practice It
- Are Formal Performance Appraisals Enough?
- Business Relationship Conflict, What it can do, what it can’t part 1
- Increasing your own Likeability, Harmonious and Productive Working Relationships
- Managing Stakeholder Relationship Part 1
- The Customized Business Plan
- Racial Conflicts on the Job
- Can You Be Trusted as a Boss?
