By Goretti Kimani
Too many employees today have gripes with their managers. And the complaints sound like a badly scratched record. My boss is too soft, or he is too stingy, or he is too harsh or too dictatorial. And the complaints will be made with alarming consistency.
But once someone interrogates the complainer, they realise they are belligerent simply because the boss does not fit into an ideal that they have painted in their heads
Some bosses are everyone’s friend. They avoid conflicts, do not criticise directly and take great care when correcting employees. We also have the dictatorial type that normally gives instructions without seeking anyone’s opinion. There are also the micro-manager types who are extremely attentive to minute details of their juniors’ activities, sometimes to an irritating level.
Other bosses are high achievers, always looking for opportunities to improve and actually lead by example. Normally, they are the first to report to work and the last to leave the office.
Perform minimally
Yet other bosses are roadblocks because they perform minimally and do not like high fliers in the organisation. These bosses would hire incompetent employees to just avoid competition. They love the status quo and loathe new ideas. Woe unto you if you have such a boss.
And there are also toxic bosses who are highly egotistic and believe that the world revolves around with them. They will keep reminding the employees that they hired them and they can fire them at will. Other bosses are, however, remarkably great with very high intelligence and emotional quotient. They are stable, efficient and reliable. They encourage teamwork and everyone feels secure around them. Employees with such bosses are assured of job security and career development.
Manage diversity
So how is the employee supposed to manage this diversity of bosses?
Rather than try to make a model boss out of your current reality, you are better off becoming more competitive and adaptive.
This must begin by being good in what you do. You can’t expect a good time at work if you are a lousy worker.
Besides professional competence, you must build a huge reservoir of both life and people skills, which are extremely crucial for harmonious coexistence, especially at work. In any case colleagues in the organisation require different skills to deal with and your boss is not an exception.
Preserve reputation
And every right thinking employee should envisage making the boss happy with their personality and performance. It is also prudent to preserve the reputation of your boss by never depicting him/her in bad light with colleagues.
Give him/her respect, understands his/her likes and dislikes. Seek relevant advice, avoid habitual complaining and learn to take corrections and criticism positively.
Interestingly, bosses are indispensable in life. And anyway, we work so hard to get them, let’s work even harder to keep them. At the end of the day, you must remember that the only way to win the game is by changing yourself, as opposed to attempting the impossible feat of trying to change others.
