What’s Wrong with your Boss?

Getting Along with the Most Important Person in your Work Life

(click below to view the video or read on if you’d prefer!)

This month, I am sharing with you a four-part model which I have developed to help you look at your relationship with your boss. To repair it if it has soured. To improve it further. To create one in case you’re not really on your boss’s radar screen.

Will you soon be meeting with your line manager to discuss your midyear review? If so, I wonder whether you’re looking forward to this discussion or if you feel a bit of trepidation? Even if you don’t have a midyear review, managing your boss is a perennial issue: there is never a moment when your boss is not a relevant element in your work life.

Indeed, beyond this month’s milestone for those of you who have a midyear review, how important is your boss in your work life? How well do you get along? Do you feel adequately valued by your boss? Do you think your boss understands you? Do you trust him/her? Can you go to him/her with issues? Do you believe your boss will facilitate your career development beyond today’s role?

 If you’re thinking of calling the headhunters because you and your boss are at drawn daggers or even if you’re a tad unsure about where you stand with your boss, you might find this simple four-part model to improve your relationship with your boss useful. The model is called ….‘BOSS’^©! Here is how the model works.

The model’s name is also an acronym for its four components, starting with ‘B’ for beliefs. If we were working together, I’d invite you to tell me about your views about bosses in general, and then to share your opinion about your current boss and how you’ve come to these conclusions.

Next we move on to discuss your boss – that’s ‘O’ for who that ‘Other’ person is. In this stage, we review what you know about your boss, his/her management style, his/her behaviour with you and with others and a number of other elements in order to flesh out this important character in your life. Gaining insights into who your line manager is will provide us with a basis later for articulating strategies which will be relevant to your particular circumstances.

The model’s third component, the ‘O’ stage, is also when we look at typical mismanagement styles, so-called “bad boss” types. In my next post, I will share with you some of those types. I have built an inventory of “bad bosses” overtime and it contains 14 types. Identifying which kind of potentially “bad boss” your line manager is, is the first step towards a constructive solution in case that relationship is not as good as it could be.

The third step in the BOSS^©model is ‘S’ which stands for ‘Stop’, as in ‘bus stop’. I am sure this is puzzling so let me tell you what this metaphor is about. Imagine you want someone to come somewhere with you and you see them across the street. What do you do? Do you shout across the street? Or do you cross the street and go to where the person is, to their “bus stop”? Once you are together at the same “bus stop”, you can agree to go on a journey together and then board the same bus.

The ‘bus stop’ metaphor is where we start looking at the gap between you and your boss and how it could be closed by getting you two to first stand at the same “bus stop” and then boarding the same bus. Using the information we gleaned in the previous two stages, we can get an objective view of the problem. Clarifying what the issue or issues is or are is a key step in order to achieve a dispassionate view and thus get a clear head for looking at solutions.

The final stage is another ‘S’, for ‘Solution’. Combining your knowledge of your work place and of your line manager with my experience of office issues and strategies for managing up, we will come up with one or more solutions. We will establish what part you will have to play. We will tailor your tactics to the kind of person your manager is, in order to maximise your chances of success!

So there you have it. I hope that this quick review of the BOSS^© model will have been helpful. I would be honoured to take you through it if you think that your relationship with your boss might benefit from an upgrade!

The BOSS^© model is part of a suite of Career Acceleration Programmes which I have developed: have a browse by clicking here to see the various workplace challenges which can be easily overcome so that your career progresses as you deserve!

Let me end by inviting you to read my next post on the theme of managing your boss where I will touch on a few typical “bad boss” types and examine the consequences for you, their team member.

Do let me know what you thought by leaving a comment on my website or emailing me directly at alexandra@coachingforinspiration.com.