Managing upmanaging your boss

Dr. E. J. Sarma 1 September 2011

If you are in a job you will have

surely a boss

If you wish to make the job

long lasting you need to manage who manages you besides all others and lot

more in the company

How to make it work?

Here are few words of

practical wisdom

Why manage boss?

Fundamental to the relationship is

establishing the trust and it does not come easily

Your actions and truthfulness will

establish the trust with speed .

Your boss will test you with

information, power, and toss decisions with you.it is upto you to establish

that you are capable of holding

sensitive data . Information and

decisions

1. Trust

You got hired on certain claims you made about your

capabilities

Unless you establish that you are what you claimed to be or to have ,credibility will

get eroded;You can lose the

battle not only with the boss but with the

peers and subordinates also.

2- credibility

Your boss needs as much free-up of his time after hiring you

If you continue to escalate all and sundry matters and eat up your boss’s time, be sure you don’t add value

The best ever compliment I got was “ you just released me from HR responsibility completely.”

Prior to my joining my boss used to spend many hours on people management issues.

3- Value add

There is story of 5 monkeys in cage with one banana hanging at top of

ladder.

First monkey tries to climb and get the banana and cold

shower is sent down. Monkey gets

scared comes down.one by one all

5 try.

The lead monkey decides to replace the first monkey

with new monkey.

Once new monkey starts to climb the

ladder the old monkeys start beating it and pulling down

After all 5 tried and failed they wonder what to do to get

the banana

4-Peer Feedback

The second monkey is now replaced and when it starts to

climb it is the first repalced new monkey which starts beating the new monkey more aggressively.

All 5 monkeys have been replaced and the banana is rotting leaving the monkeys wondering about the team

culture.

You will soon end up as new monkey unless you get the pat on the backs and feedback and

work on peer relationship

Monkey story

5- don’t misuse proximity

Once the trust gets established you will feel closer to your boss.

Let that not go in to your system and start believing that you are as good as your boss.

Secretaries start behaving like bosses to dig their own grave

Hubris is excessive pride (or "overweening" pride), and is often called "the pride that comes before the fall." It had serious consequences in Greek tragedy

 and law.

Closeness to boss can lead to assumed power and that leads to hubris

Better avoid that

6-Hubris

Managers have received a lifetime of training in

being forceful, articulate

"advocates" and "problem solvers." They know how to present and

argue strongly for their views.

As people rise in the organization, they are forced to

deal with more complex and

interdependent issues where no one individual

"knows the answer, and where

the only viable option is for

groups of informed and

committed individuals to

think together to arrive at new

insights.

One need to learn to skillfully balance advocacy with

inquiry.

When balancing advocacy and

inquiry, lay out our reasoning

and thinking, and then encourage

others to challenge us.

"Here is my view and here is how I have arrived at it. How does it sound to you? What makes

sense to you and what doesn't? Do you see any ways I can improve it?"

Balancing inquiry and advocacy is sometimes

hard on people's

cherished opinions,

which is one reason why

it is so difficult to master.

The payoff comes in the

more creative and

insightful realizations that occur

when people combine multiple

perspectives.

7- Be an Advocate

Don’t attempt things other than what you were hired for

I know of an Ex. VP hired for sales was trying everything under marketing as he was good at it

After 6 months he gets fired for non performance.

8- Focus on what your mandate was

Creating visibility for

your self inside the

organization is very important

Stay close to people. Talk and

communicate

With everyone around.

Internal PR helps in enlisting

everyone’s good will and

support

9-Be visible

discuss your concerns -- not confront your boss.

There is a difference.

Need to carry out the

discussion of your concerns

in a non-adversarial

way.

Handle your complaints in a

manner that does not

damage to your

relationship.

10- Discuss concernsdo not confront and annoy

Summary- These tips come from what I have

seen in many people over three decades

Thank you