Boss! Of course; subordinates are essential, but peers…The Real Test!!! The boss determines one’s raise, one’s bonus and possibly one’s promotion. It makes sense to literally ‘suck up’ to the boss. We all learn early in the game as to which are the boss’s hot buttons and stay away from them. We put a positive spin to the matters that are close to the boss’s heart and make sure that the boss always looks like a hero…
In our words and in our written presentations, all the credit for any success is carefully ascribed to the boss who is capable only of brilliant insights. The boss simply never does anything silly. The greatest of sovereigns are not immune to flattery. So there is no harm at all in letting your bosses believe that at least in your eyes they walk on water. A happy boss basking in your admiration is a necessary factor for your career to move in a positive direction. But it is by no means a sufficient condition. If you really want to progress there are two very important groups which one can ignore at one’s peril.
The first group is one’s subordinates. They have to respect you. And respect is very different from fear or servility (usually driven by? You guessed it… their selfish considerations!). Subordinates respect you only if they see you as someone who can help them. They do not expect you to know all the details of their job, although such knowledge is definitely a source of respect. They expect you to be in a position to help them when they are in trouble. Nowadays this kind of old fashioned help is known as ‘adding value’.
If competition has cut prices and a salesperson cannot meet aggressive sales goals, you as the manager need to be able to intervene… argue for a price cut in your own organization, deliver some promotion goodies, or when needed renegotiate sales budgets. Subordinates dislike bosses who refuse help. I know interest rates are up, competition is fierce, many things have changed that make the budget goals virtually impossible to achieve, but these are just your problems.
As a boss, all I can do is to yell at you and goad you towards unrealistic goals. Such an attitude is the kiss of death. The Word gets around! You get placed in the category of a ‘zero value add’ supervisor. In the short run, your career might not take a hit because you are secure in your position with your boss, but over time, the whole organization learns to distrust you and your special relationship with your boss actually becomes negative. You are an ‘incompetent sycophant’… and after that happens, in all probability you can forget about that brilliant career.
The second is your own peer group. This is usually more difficult as they are your natural rivals. Even though they may not like you, you should and need to earn their respect. They tend to respect deep technical knowledge and hard work and you cannot fool them with sweet talk. They may judge you harshly at times but in many ways they are fair and the most useful of the lot. From day one in an organization if you work diligently at earning their respect, it pays off in multiple ways.
You can actually work on the ‘content’ of your skills set not just its appearance. You can constructively take their inputs and over time they become your tough teachers. Over the years as one’s career shapes up within an organization or across different ones, the informal peer network keeps track of you, and will play a very important role as far as you future growth is concerned.
That’s why Boss! Of course; subordinates are essential, but peers…The Real Test!!!
In our words and in our written presentations, all the credit for any success is carefully ascribed to the boss who is capable only of brilliant insights. The boss simply never does anything silly. The greatest of sovereigns are not immune to flattery. So there is no harm at all in letting your bosses believe that at least in your eyes they walk on water. A happy boss basking in your admiration is a necessary factor for your career to move in a positive direction. But it is by no means a sufficient condition. If you really want to progress there are two very important groups which one can ignore at one’s peril.
The first group is one’s subordinates. They have to respect you. And respect is very different from fear or servility (usually driven by? You guessed it… their selfish considerations!). Subordinates respect you only if they see you as someone who can help them. They do not expect you to know all the details of their job, although such knowledge is definitely a source of respect. They expect you to be in a position to help them when they are in trouble. Nowadays this kind of old fashioned help is known as ‘adding value’.
If competition has cut prices and a salesperson cannot meet aggressive sales goals, you as the manager need to be able to intervene… argue for a price cut in your own organization, deliver some promotion goodies, or when needed renegotiate sales budgets. Subordinates dislike bosses who refuse help. I know interest rates are up, competition is fierce, many things have changed that make the budget goals virtually impossible to achieve, but these are just your problems.
As a boss, all I can do is to yell at you and goad you towards unrealistic goals. Such an attitude is the kiss of death. The Word gets around! You get placed in the category of a ‘zero value add’ supervisor. In the short run, your career might not take a hit because you are secure in your position with your boss, but over time, the whole organization learns to distrust you and your special relationship with your boss actually becomes negative. You are an ‘incompetent sycophant’… and after that happens, in all probability you can forget about that brilliant career.
The second is your own peer group. This is usually more difficult as they are your natural rivals. Even though they may not like you, you should and need to earn their respect. They tend to respect deep technical knowledge and hard work and you cannot fool them with sweet talk. They may judge you harshly at times but in many ways they are fair and the most useful of the lot. From day one in an organization if you work diligently at earning their respect, it pays off in multiple ways.
You can actually work on the ‘content’ of your skills set not just its appearance. You can constructively take their inputs and over time they become your tough teachers. Over the years as one’s career shapes up within an organization or across different ones, the informal peer network keeps track of you, and will play a very important role as far as you future growth is concerned.
That’s why Boss! Of course; subordinates are essential, but peers…The Real Test!!!
