Bosses. We’ve all had them. Some of them are disfunctional jerks, complete idiots, micromanaging a-holes, or maybe some just plain sucks. Aside from changing jobs, most of us are stuck with the hand that we’re dealt with when it comes to the boss. We look to our boss to bring out the best in us, their teams, and those around them, but what about you? Can you bring out the best in your boss?
Yes, you can.
It’s called multiplying up. Multiplying up involves a commitment from you to improve your relationship with the boss. This means focusing on creating value for them and leveraging their strengths to align with your own. And alignment involves listening and learning.
But in order to create that relationship, a foundation has to be established. This involves having conversations, learning about eachother, and swallowing a little pride. The relationship doesn’t have to be a personal one but it must be founded on a common ground, principle, or idea called blending. Blending involves focusing on one commonality to establish a relationship. I first came across this concept as I struggled with my own relationship with a previous boss and co-worker at my first job out of college. While it didn’t solve all our relationship problems, it did make working together easier. I made an effort to drive conversations around topics of conversations where my boss and I both had an interest in like football, an author, or an activity like washers.
According to leadership researcher Wiseman there are two types of managers: diminishers and multipliers. Diminishers who get less than 50% of the capability of the people they surround themselves. And multipliers are those who snag 100% of the capability and seize the talents of those around them. Rebecca who I’ve written about in the past is a multiplier. She used my love of social media, technology, and passion to build our social recruiting strategy where Facebook and Myspace accounted for 30% of our candidate source.
Diminishers on the other hand are those who seem to suck you dry. They are often focused on control and are hiding incompetencies that drive these habits or behaviors. Their fear of not having all the answers and their desire for control presents a missed opportunity as a leader.
Leaders within an organization aren’t always managers. They are people who bring out the best in their managers and teammates by multiplying up. Making the effort to establish relationships and build bridges to drive a department, an office, or an organization. And it’s efforts like these from our leaders that drive the Conversation Culture within organizations whether you have 2, 25 or 250,000 employees.
The Conversation Culture is a new topical series at Blogging4Jobs discussing how engagement, communication, and conversations in the workplace can create an environment that drives employee productivity as well as employee satisfaction. Have a topic idea? Send me a message at jessica@xceptionalhr to start the dialogue. Want to write for me? Don’t be shy. Send me an email.
Photo Credit Etsy.
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A lot of great tips here! I know everyone suffers a “sucky boss” on at least one occasion. An additional strategy to consider is called “Managing Up” (There is an abundance of books on this topics). In this strategy, you are passively coaching your boss in order to recieve the support you need. This is especially helpful because if a person helps his/her boss to succeed, the boss is more likely to provide autonomy and support.
Oy. Nearly every boss I’ve had was a “sucky” boss. And really, it wasn’t me. It really, really wasn’t.
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