Alpha

Partners

MANAGING YOUR
BOSS

Presented by Olufemi Mosaku-

Johnson
www.alphapartnerstrainings.com

Alpha Partners Trainings

 THE FOLLOWING OUTLINE WILL BE
ADOPTED
• IN DISCUSSING THIS TOPIC:
1. SESSION OBJECTIVES
2. WHO IS ONE’S BOSS?
3. THE PLACE OF A BOSS IN ONE’S CAREER
4. THE TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING ONE’S BOSS.
5. BENEFITS IN EFFECTIVELY MANAGING ONES BOSS.
6. CONCLUSIONS.

• AT THE CLOSE OF THE PRESENTATION IT IS HOPED

• THAT PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE A GOOD
• KNOWLEDGE OF:
 Managing Your Boss
• What is working with how you manage
your boss now?
• What would you like to see happen?
• What can you do to make things better?
• Given your boss’s pressures and goals, how
can you help him/her meet their goals?
 Checklist for Managing
Your Boss *
What are his/her:
• Goals, Objectives and Values
• Pressures
• Strengths, weaknesses, blind spots
• Preferred work style
WHO IS ONE’S BOSS?
• THE BOSS IS REGARDED AS YOUR SUPERIOR ON
THE JOB. HE IS MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN
YOU ARE ON THE JOB. HE IS IN AUTHORITY
OVER YOU.
• HE HAS LIGITIMATE POWER OVER YOU
• HE HAS COERCIVE POWER (POWER TO PUNISH) OVER YOU.
• HE HAS REWARD POWER (POWER TO DIRECTLY REWARD YOU
OR RECOMMEND YOU FOR PROMOTION AND OTHER FAVOURS)
OVER YOU.
• HE GIVES YOU ORDER ON THE JOB.
• HE IS THE ONE TO WHOM YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE AND
ACCOUNTABLE.
• HE DIRECTS YOUR ACTIVITIES ON THE JOB.
• THE BOSS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PERSON TO YOU AND YOU
SHOULD TREAT HIM AS SUCH.
• HE IS THE EYE AND THE SPOKESMAN
• FOR THE ORGANISATION IS MANIMATE WHILE YOUR BOSS IS
THE ANIMATE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ORGANISATION OVER
YOU.
3. THE PLACE OF THE BOSS IN ONE’S CAREER
• THE BOSS PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN YOUR CAREER, BEHAVIOUR
AND DEVELOPMENT.
• HE TAKES SOME DECISION THAT MAY AFFECT YOU PERMANENTLY
IN YOUR CAREER LIKE TRAINING, DEVELOPMENTAL AND
PROMOTIONAL DECISIONS.
• YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM/HER GOES ALONG WAY IN
DETEMRINING YOUR PROPER FUNCTIONING ON THE JOB.
• IF YOU ARE THE TYPE WHO SEES NOTHING GOOD IN YOUR BOSS
AND YOU BEHAVE IN THIS MANNER TO HIM, YOU TREAT HIM
WITH DISDAIN AND DISRESPECT, YOU HAVE TO BE A DIFFICULT
INDIVIDUAL EVERY TIME, SOMEONE WHO IS NOT COOPERATIVE,
YOUR TENURE IN THAT ESTABLISHMENT MAY BE SHORT LIVED
• THAT EASIEST WAY TO FRUSTRATE YOURSELF IS NOT TO BE AT
EASE WITH YOUR BOSS.
• THERE IS NEED TO RESPECT AND CARRYOUT ETHICAL DUTIES
GIVEN TO YOU DILIGENTLY.
• DO NOT BE AN APOSTLE OF NEGATIVISM.
• YOUR BOSS WANTS YOU TO BE LOYAL TO HIM AS NO ONE
TOLERATES A DISLOYAL ELEMENT.
• IF YOU CANNOT SHOW LOYALTY TO YOUR BOSS, YOU SHOULD
LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR EMPLOYMENT.
• YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO BE DISLOYAL TO YOUR BOSS AND
STILL REMAIN IN THE ESTABLISHMENT. IT IS HARDLY POSSIBLE.
4. THE TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING ONE’S BOSS
• HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR BOSS ESPECIALLY
REGARDING HIS/HER STRENGTHS, WEAKNESS, WORK STYLES
AND NEEDS.
• USE THIS INFORMATION TO DEVELOP AND MANAGE A HEAL
THY WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM/HER.
• AT A MINIMUM YOU NEED TO APPRECIATE YOUR BOSS’S GOALS
AND PRESSURES. WHAT ARE YOUR BOSS’S ORGANISATIONAL
AND PERSONAL OBJECTIVES, ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM HIS OR
HER OWN BOSS AND OTHERS AT THE SAME LEVEL? WHAT IS
YOUR BOSS’S PREPFERRED STYLE OF WORKING?
• DOES YOUR BOSS LIKE TO GET INFORMATION THROUGH
MEMOS, FORMAL MEETING, OR PHONE CALLS?
• DOES HE OR SHE THRIVE ON CONFLICT OR TRY TO MINIMISE
IT/HIS TEMPERAMENT/PERSONALITY.
• WITHOUT THIS INFORMATION YOU WILL BE FLYING BLIND
WHEN DEALING WITH THE BOSS. UNNECESSARY CONFLICTS,
MISUNDERSTANDINGS ARE PROBLEMS ARE INEVITABLE.
• ON THE OTHER HAND YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND YOURSELF
BECAUSE THE BOSS IS ONE HALF OF THE RELATIONSHIP. YOU
ARE THE OTHER HALF AND THIS IS THE PART OVER WHICH YOU
HAVE THE MORE DIRECT CONTROL.
• DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE WORKING RELATIONSHIP
REQURIES, THEN, THAT YOU KNOW YOUR OWN NEEDS,
STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES AND PERSONAL STYLE. YOU ARE
NOT GOING TO CHANGE EITHER YOUR BASIC PERSONALITY,
STRUCTURE OR THAT OF YOUR BOSS.
BUT YOU CAN BECOME AWARE OF WHAT IS IT ABOUT
YOU THAT IMPEDES OR FACILITATES WORKING WITH
YOUR BOSS AND WITH THAT AWARENESS, TAKE
ACTIOSN THAT MAKE THE RELATIONSHIP EFFECTIVE
AND PLEASANT.

BASIC ISSUES IN MANAGING YOUR BOSS

• SOME BOSSES GIVE UNCLEAR OBJECTIVES, AND SPECIALISE IN
SHIFTING GOAL POSTS WITHOUT WARNING.
• OTHER BOSSES DON’T TELL YOU HOW YOU ARE DOING.
• SOME DO NOT GIVE YOU ENOUGH AUTHORITY, THEY STAND
OVER YOU * AND INTERFERRING, CHANGING EVERYTHING.
• OTHERS GIVE TOO MUCH AUTHORITY, THEY DISAPPEAR AND
LEAVE EVERYTHING TO YOU.
• SOME DON’T LISTEN
• AND HARDLY THANKS YOU.
• THEY DON’T WANT TO PRAISE YOU FOR FEAR OF

Your boss is which of these personality profiles?

MANAGING THE VARIOUS PERSONALTY PROFILES
ABOVE
1. UNCLEAR OBJECTIVES AND MOVING GOALS
• WITH EXTERNAL ASSIGNMENTS PUT PROJECTS IN WRITING
ALONG WITH AN OUTLINE PLAN FOR TACKLING IT AND A TIME
SCALE. THIS HELPS TO CLARIFY THE EXPECTATIONS OF BOTH
PARTIES AND TO ENSURE THAT THEY ARE COMPATIBLE.
• YOU CAN FOLLOW SIMILAR GUIDELINES FOR INTERNAL
ASSIGNMENTS, EVEN FOR QUITE SMALL TASKS. WHEN YOUR
BOSS ASKS YOU TO DO SOMETHING, YOU CAN SAY “SO WHAT
YOU ARE ASKING ME TO DO IS…… I COULD GET THAT DONE BY
FRIDAY MORNING, WOULD THAT BE OK?”
• , YOU COULD PUT IT IN WRITING THE NEXT DAY; “FOLLOWING
OUR MEETING ON THIS SUBJECT YESTERDAY, I THOUGHT IT
MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR ME TO SUMMARISE WHAT WE
AGREED.”
• THIS IS WHAT I UNDERSTAND YOU ASKED ME TO DO.
• I PLAN TO TACKLE IT IN THIS WAY.
• MY PROPOSED TIME SCALE IS….
• PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS IN ACCEPTABLE TO YOU.
• I SUSPECT THAT ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IN THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN BOSSES AND SUBORDINATES IS THAT THEY ARE SEEN
AS PARENT AND CHILD RELATIONSHIP, WITH THE PARENT
TELLING THE CHILD WHAT TO DO AND THE CHILD HAVING TO
OBEY
• .-CAP
• FOR HEALTHIER, ESPECIALLY IN A MODERN “FLAT”
ORGANISATION, IS TO THINK OF THE RELATIONSHIP AS BEING
BETWEEN TWO ADULTS, EACH OF WHOM HAS DIFFERENT
RESPONSIBILITIES WITHIN THE ORGANISATION. THIS MAKES IT
EASIER TO SEE THAT BOTH PARTIES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
ENSURING THAT OBJECTIVES ARE CLEAR.
2. BOSSES WHO DO NOT TELL YOU HOW YOU ARE DOING
• WE ALL NEED FEEDBACKS, ESPECIALLY FROM OUR BOSSES AND
OUR CUSTOMERS, THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM WE ARE WORKING.
WITHOUT FEEDBACK ALMOST ANY JOB BECAMES DOUDGERY.
• IMAGINE STANDING ON A GOLF COURSE ALL DAY HITTING GOLF
BALLS BUT NOT SEEING WHERE THEY GO. FROM THAT WOULD
BECAME VERY BORING.
• IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE FEEDBACK YOU NEED AND WANT,
ASK FOR IT ADULT TO ADULT. DO NOT SPRING THIS ON YOUR
BOSS UNEXPECTEDLY, GIVE HIM/HER TIME TO PREPARE.
• ‘I PUT A LOT OF EFFORTS INTO THIS REPORT END I WOULD VERY
MUCH LIKE TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS ON MY IDEAS AND ON
THE WAY I PRESENTED THEM. COULD I COME AND SEE YOU
LATER N THE WEEK?
• DON’T BE TOO QUICK TO CLASSIFY YOUR BOSS AS AN
ADVERSARY, REMEMBER THAT HE/SHE IS ALSO DEPENDENT ON
YOU.

BOSSES WHO DO NOT GIVE YOU ENOUGH

AUTHORITY
• THE INITIAL RESPONSE TO THIS PROBLEM IS TO ASK FOR MORE
AUTHORITY, OR RATHER PREFER TO TAKE MORE
RESPONSIBILITY. BUT IF THIS DOESN’T WORK YOU MIGHT NEED
OTHER STRATEGY.
• HOW ABOUT THE “WORK TO RULE” WHERE YOU HAVE NOT
BEEN GIVEN THE AUTHORITY TO ACT. THE RULE IS, “MAKE
RECOMMENDATIONS” THIS HAS JUST HAPPENED AND THIS IS
WHAT I PROPOSE TO DO” BOSSES LIKE SUBORDINATES WHO
MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS.
BOSSES WHO DON’T LISTEN
• IF YOUR BOSS DOES NOT LISTEN TO YOU, TRY ADOPTING A SALES
APPROACH; DEVELOP YOUR IDEAS AND THEN SELL THEM TO YOUR
BOSS. AS IN ALL SELLING, THE FIRST STEP IS TO UNDERSTAND THE
CUSTOMER’S NEEDS.
• WHAT ARE THE CONSTRANTS AND PRESSURES ON HIM/HER?
• WHAT IS HIS/HER PREFERRED WORKING STYLE?
• WHAT DOES HE/SHE NEED TO HELD HIM/HER ACHIEVE HIS/HER
OBJECTIVES?

THE BEST WAY TO EARN THE GRATITUDE OF ANYONE

• WHEN YOU PRESENT YOUR IDEA, IS TO LEAD IT CAREFULLY:
• “I HAVE GOT AN IDEA, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR IT?”
• “WE WERE TALKING LAST WEEK ABOUT XYZ PROBLEM” TAKING
YOUR IDEA FURTHER, I THINK ETC.
• IT IS ALSO NECESSARY TO CONFRONT YOUR BOSS
OCCASSIONALLY WITH ANY PROBLEM THAT HE/SHE IS CAUSING
FOR YOU. FREQUENT INTERRUPTIONS, UNNECESSARY PANICS
AND SO ON. IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES IT IS OFTEN A GOOD
IDEA TO ASK FOR ADVICE
• A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO YOUR RELATIONSHIP. A LARGE
NUMBER OF MANAGERS AGREE THAT THEY WOULD LIKE THEIR
PEOPLE TO BE MORE CREATIVE, TO COME UP WITH MORE
IDEAS, TAKE THEM OUT REGULARLY TO SCAN FOR
OPPORTUNITIES, TO LOOK FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE
THE EFFEICIENCY AND SMOTH RUNNING OF YOUR
ORGANISATION. KEEP A STEADY TRICKLE OF
IDEAS FLOWING TOWARDS YOUR BOSS. YOU WONT
ALWAYS BE THANKED FOR THEM, AND YOUR BOSS
MAY STEAL SOME OF THEM BUT IN THE LONG RUN IT
MUST HELP YOUR CAUSE.

5. BENEFITS IN EFFECTIVELY MANAGING YOUR BOSS

• THE BENEFITS ARE OBVIOUS AND SELF EVIDENT.
• AN EFFECTIVE, CORDIAL WORKING RELATIONSHIP IS
ENTHRONED IN THE WORK PLACE
• RESPECT AND RECOGNITION FLOW NATURALLY TO YOU FROM
YOUR BOSS AND VICE-VERSE.
• YOURSELF CONFIDENCE IMPROVES DRAMATICALLY.
• YOU CAN COUNT ON YOUR BOSS USING HIS REWARD POWER
INVOLUNTARILY TO BOOST YOUR CAUSE.
• YOUR BOSS SEES YOU AS AN ALLY AND NO LONGER AS AN
INDEPENDENT PERSON. HE/SHE TRUSTS YOU, CONFIDES IN
YOU AND DELEGATES VERY IMPORTANT RESPONSIBILITIES AND
AUTHORITIES TO YOU.
• YOU ACHIEVE MAXIMUM JOB SATISFACTION AT WORK.
6. CONCLUSION
EFFECTIVELY MANAGING YOUR BOSS IMPLIES THAT
YOU ARE OUT TO MAKE A SUCCESS OF YOUR
CAREER AND THAT THE SUCCESS DEPENDS TO A
LARGER EXTENT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
YOU AND YOUR BOSS.
TO ACHIEVE THIS DELIGHTFUL RELATIONSHIP MEANS THAT YOU HAVE
TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR BOSS IS YOUR
SUPERIOR AND THAT YOU ARE PREPARED TO TAKE
HIM SO IN ALL THINGS. YOU HAVE TO REALISE
THAT HE HAS ENORMOUS POWER OVER YOU AND
YOU WILL WANT THIS POWER TO BE USED
POSITIVELY TOWARDS YOU. YOU HAVE TO
UNDERSTAND HIM AS A LIVEN PERSON AND USE
 Reader vs. Listener
• Am I a reader and listener?
• Is my boss a reader or listener?
– Ask your colleagues
• How can I work with others in a way that
works for me?
 Building Relationships
 Know Your Manager and Peers:
1. Spend time learning their interests and priorities
2. Learn their pet peeves and avoid them
3. Don’t talk negatively about your colleagues
4. Understand and support their:
– Strengths
– Weaknesses
– Priorities and Goals
– Work style (e.g., Is your manager a reader or a listener?)

“Managing your Boss,” by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter, Harvard Business Review
The 360 Degree Leader: Developing your Influence from Anywhere within the Organization, by John C. Maxwell
 Personal Ability
 Ensure that people have the ability to
change:
1. Breaking behaviors into clear, specific
and repeatable actions
2. Creating time and space to practice
new skills

3. Providing immediate feedback against clear

standards
 Social Motivation
 Use peer pressure:
1. Cultivating the support of “opinion
leaders”
2. Surfacing undiscussables through public
discourse

3. Removing people from existing

networks and placing them in a new,
supportive network
 Social Ability
 When individuals need the support of
those around them to change:
1. Getting entire groups to change
behavior together
2. Co-opting others by turning your
problem into their own

3. Having participants teach

one another new behaviors
 How Do You Fail?
• No explanation of significance
• No roadmap
• Not knowing your stuff
• Gaps in logic
• Excessive detail
• Gimmicky
 How Do You Succeed?
• Do not share everything you know – but be ready to
provide depth and complexity when asked
• Answer questions efficiently – if you don’t know the
answer, do NOT make one up
• Be prepared NOT to get through everything:
– You will be interrupted
– The audience may focus on one issue and never let go
– Make your most important points early
 Effective Communications Strategies
• For communications to be successful, you must move
beyond one-time communications:
– Repeat, repeat, repeat
– Explore different mediums of communication
– Meet people where they are
– Do not assume that hearing equates with understanding or
action
– Communicate throughout any initiative, not just at the
beginning
 Action Planning
• What is one action you will take upon returning to
work?

• What support will you need to accomplish this

goal?
 Etzioni’s Power Analysis

Type of Membership
Alienative Calculative Moral
Type of Power

Coercive

Utilitarian

Normative

Amitai Etzioni, Modern Organizations, 1964, pp..... 59-61. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Kanter’s Symbols of Powerlessness

Any Level Employees Staff Professionals

• passivity, overdependence • resistance to change
• frustration, disruptiveness • turf protection

First-line Supervisors Top Executives

• overly close supervision • budget cuts
• inflexible adherence to rules • punishing behaviors
• do job rather than train • top-down communications

Key to overcoming powerlessness:

share power & delegate decision making
 Political Behavior in Organizations

Organizational Politics - the use of power and

influence in organizations

Political Behavior - actions not officially

sanctioned by an organization that are
taken to influence others in order to meet
one’s personal goals
Effective Political Characteristics
 Influence Tactics

Upward Influence the

Consultation boss
Rational persuasion
Inspirational appeals
Lateral Influence a
Ingratiation
coworker
Upward appeals
Coalition tactics
Exchange tactics
Pressure Downward Influence
an employee
 Managing Political Behavior

• Maintain open communication

• Clarify performance expectations
• Use participative management
• Encourage cooperation among work groups
• Manage scarce resources well
• Provide a supportive organizational climate
 Managing Up: The Boss

Make sure you understand your boss and his/her

context including
 Goals and objectives
 Pressures
 Strengths, weaknesses, blind spots
 Preferred work style
 Managing Up: The Boss

Assess yourself and your needs, including

 Strengths, weaknesses, & blind spots
 Personal style
 Relation to authority figures
 Managing Up: The Boss
Develop and maintain a relationship that
 Fits both your needs and styles
 Is characterized by mutual expectations
 Keeps your boss informed
 Is based on dependability and honesty
 Selectively uses your boss’s time and resources
Sharing Power: Empowerment

Empowerment:
sharing power in such a way
that individuals learn to believe
in their ability to do the job!
 Empowerment’s Dimensions

Meaning - fit between Competence - belief

the work role and the that one has the
employee’s values ability to do the job
and beliefs well
E2

Self-determination - Impact - belief that

having control over one’s job makes a
the way one does difference within the
one’s work organization
 Guidelines for Empowering

• Express confidence in employees

• Set high performance expectations
• Create opportunities for participative
decision making
• Remove bureaucratic constraints that stifle
autonomy
• Set inspirational and meaningful goals
 Employee Empowerment Grid
Imple-
Decision-Making Authority over Job Context

mentation Point D Point E

Follow-up Mission Defining Self-management

Alternative
Choice
Point C
Alternative Participatory
Evaluation Empowerment

Alternative
Development
Point A Point B
Problem No Decision Task Setting
Identification
Problem Alternative Alternative Alternative Imple-
Identification Development Evaluation Choice mentation
Follow-up
Decision-Making Authority over Job Content
Amitai Etzioni, Modern Organizations, 1964, pp.... 59-61. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
 Using Power Effectively
 Use power in ethical ways
 Understand and use all of the various types of power
and influence
 Seek out jobs that allow you to develop your power
skills
 Use power tempered by maturity and self-control
 Accept that influencing people is an important part
of the management job
 Neutralizing Influence Attempts
• Protecting against the undesirable attempts of
others to influence us
• Feelings of lack of power are just as harmful
to personal performance as flagrant, excessive
use of power.
 Benefiting the Boss
• Problem solving • Trustworthiness
• Understanding • Protecting
• Diagnosing • Listening
• Self-awareness • Timeliness
• Communicating • Creativity
 Develop and maintain a relationship that:*

• Fits both your needs and styles

• Is characterized by mutual expectations
• Keeps your boss informed (reader/listener)
• Is based on dependability and honesty
• Selectively uses your boss’s time and resources

* From HBR Gabarro and Kotter, Managing Your Boss

 Powerful Managers Can
• Intercede on behalf of someone in trouble
• Get a desirable placement for a subordinate
• Get approval beyond the budget
• Get fast access to top decision makers
• Get items on and off the agenda
• Acquire information about decisions
 Thank You.
AP
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