WHAT DOES A BOSS WANT
What does he really want? What the hell does she want? Haven’t we yelled this at some point, at many points, in our short or long career. Angry at what she said or did. Exasperated at the way things are moving at the workplace. Bothered this job is kind of coming to a sad end. Fretting that if one stayed longer, she would make it hell. Anxious that one might have to again lurch from one place to another in the frustrating job streets.
Hang on! Everything might seem falling apart at workplace, and still it’s no time to jump the ship. Because MoneyQuin, your friend and guide, will not let you destroy your career. Because MQ believes bosses don’t determine your career, YOU do!! So stay calm. And follow MQ:
Boss is Human too
This will be the first hymn of Boss-Veda, if someone were to ever pick up a talpatra and pen it. And so he will display all such qualities or flaws that you and me have. So if not anyone else, just try looking at yourself as to what pleases you and what doesn’t. What is it that you would want you colleagues to do if an assignment is to be done efficiently following a deadline. And what’s the kind of inter-personal behavior you would want any colleague to have with you. If you can honestly put your mind and heart to it, you are beginning to unravel the mystery that a boss is.
She Wants You to Deliver
Despite all what you do—order a cake on her birthday, go shopping with her, gather gossip for her – at the end of the day all that counts is what you deliver, in terms of the goals that have been assigned to you. A cake, shopping and gossip - everything has a utility and you will be very likely retained for these personalized services and may also be rewarded once in a while with a nice junket, above-average increment and some of the assignments that you might desperately want. But don’t forget your boss is also accountable to someone who wants work done. Therefore, she will in all likelihood promote a colleague or give her the best raise who really delivers.
She Needs Ms/Mr Dependable
It’s Saturday evening and the boss of your boss wants something done. In all probability you are at a pub, half drunk and there it goes…you phone with a caller’s name you just don’t want to see at that point in time. You can miss that call and again when she redials. She might move to dialing some other team member’s number because the work is urgent. You just keep the phone on silent mode and return the call next morning with some alibi for last evening. The work might have been already done or if you are unlucky, still waiting for you. Now, this is a difficult situation: If you take her call all the time she needs you, for sure you are her Ms dependable. For sure, this will be a positive while deciding your raises and also while giving you new responsibilities in the current organization or wherever your boss moves. The flipside is too much work will continue piling on your desk and sometime you may realize that those who aren’t not really ‘so dependable’ too get as good or bad raises as you do. Avoiding her phone surely makes her lose some trust in you. But one must understand, raises are not purely a function of being dependable.
Complain Please NOT
No boss likes a team member who has all the time to feel bad about everyone and complain about everything on earth. Please restrain yourself from giving vent to your feelings all the time. There are times appropriate for it, but don’t make it a habit.
Organisation First
She is your boss, not a superhuman. So she may not have the best ideas all the time and many a time willing to welcome yours. Take advantage of that. Think, not just for yourself, but also for the organization—not the larger goals of the organizations in which neither you nor your boss may have any say, but the specific responsibilities your boss and her team share. Every boss likes her team to shine, of course with enough credit to her. And if your suggestions find her approval, do try and execute them.
Ego at Home
Jobs are rarely lost for poor performance during a good economic boom phase in which India is currently, but they are because of ego clashes. Therefore, you have to make sure you avoid treading on her ego. Your boss doesn’t want you to engage in a pitched ego battle with your colleagues either on any issue or non-issue. That vitiates the atmosphere and reduces workplace efficiency.
No Bitching
It’s impossible not to bitch about your boss. But do it intelligently, only with those who you really really trust, not with everyone!!
No Bitterness
This is the most important thing to look out for when things are absolutely disgusting in office. Even in a situation when just a step and you are out the door of you office, you have to resist that bitterness that jaundices your vision and prejudices your thought process. You have to take charge of yourself, of the situation. And as we said in the beginning bosses are only human, so an honest effort will not go unanswered. We are not asking you to beg your boss to keep your job. We are just asking you to save it because you don’t deserve to leave in a huff. And before you go to your boss to discuss it, drop your bitterness, frustration and look at it from her point of view. Things might start falling in place: She perhaps never expected you to move mountains, nor did she want you lick her heels; she just wanted you to deliver certain things, in ‘certain’ way; and she wanted you to smile when you spoke with her; and she wanted you to ‘praise’ her efforts sometime and she just didn’t want you to argue with her on things she was too sure of.
And
He Wants You Close!!
If boss is a guy and he wants you really close, you know the answer. Please stop feeling helpless and decide at the very first signals the way you want to react. It’s not difficult to decide and let me assure you your boss will not be able to sack you if you say a firm no, or send negative vibes with your action. Because most men do not really have the courage to actually go that length. Most will just forget about it and stop trying. Only when you go some length and later want to restrain that is when it leads to mess.
