Managing the Boss
Showcase your talents by putting together a desk reference manual. Done bit by bit, it can become the ultimate productivity tool. Here’s how to do it.
The boss asks a question about a project while you’re knee-deep in something else, or a new employee suddenly inquires about the one thing that might make him change his mind about staying. You need to shift gears quickly, but you draw a blank. Before you open your mouth to answer, mull over these tips.
Want a quick route to the unemployment office? Just say “No” to your boss when he or she asks you to do something. Even if the boss’s command is unreasonable, defying authority immediately causes conflict.
It happens. Your boss, red-faced and scowling, strides toward your desk—clutching the report you stayed late yesterday to finish. How to calm the tension? Remember this 4-A approach:
Here are a few highlights from an ABC News web poll a few years back that asked readers for the worst thing a boss ever told them:
You can’t force your boss to unplug or forget about work while on vacation, but you can make it easier for him (and you) with this plan:
Don’t allow the uncertainty of a merger and/or layoffs freeze your career. While the powers that be decide who stays and who goes, stake your claim to the position you want and they need.
If your boss’s micromanagement interferes with your ability to do your job, quit casting yourself as a victim. You can’t change the boss, but you can influence many of the situations you face, says Harry Chambers, a trainer and author of My Way or the Highway: The Micromanagement Survival Guide.
Launching into an assignment before you’re absolutely sure what the boss wants just wastes your effort … and the boss’s time.
Head off surprise assignments.
To keep hiring from stealing too much time from your boss’s day, offer to interview promising candidates by phone before you set up an appointment.
