| An employee is hired to help the company make a profit |
Introduction (Your Choice. Start where you want.)
Your Relationship with Your Boss (You play an important part in developing your relationship with your boss. Don't mess it up.)
Your Yearly Performance Review and Potential Promotion (Take it seriously. Learn what you need to do to satisfy your boss so you can make next year's review what you want it to be.)
Your Relationship with Co-Workers (It is important that you get along with your co-workers. Someday one of them could be your boss.)
How You Perform Your Job’s Duties (Do your job the best you can everyday. The final word about how good you are at performing your job is determined by your boss and not you.)
Your Comment Is Wanted (Your opinion is important to Dale.)
If you want to make someone happy, you do what they want and meet their expectations. A single person has had to deal with this situation. He may get a first date with that wonderful person, but if he does not meet their expectations, he probably will not get the second date.
In the beginning of a relationship, the dating single adults understand that they have to be on their best behavior to make a good impression on the target of their affection. After a few dates, the person’s real personality will start to appear which can be different from the “best behavior” personality. Each of the dating single adults will start to see the other person from a different perspective because they are starting to see the real person. This can be a shock to a person’s system and often start the termination process of their dating activities.
It seems that few if any people can live in the “best behavior” world when it is foreign to their personality.
The relation between a new employee and his boss is similar to the dating environment. The best behavior soon ends, and the real person starts to appear. This often makes a mockery of the interview process when the job candidate has a high priority of putting forth his best behavior during the interview process. A boss can be thinking, “When do I get to know the real person after they have been hired? What have I actually hired?”
If you want to make your boss happy on a daily basis, you need to do what he wants you to do and achieve what he wants achieved. This will make him look good to his boss and he will be happy with you.
This article contains many suggestions that if you follow, you will set yourself up to make your boss happy to that you work for him. How you conduct yourself at work is up to do. You need to learn you boss which is saying that you need to learn what he likes and does not like in the behavior of his employees. Of course if you find that there is a behavior that your boss likes and this behavior cannot or will not be achieved by you, you will have to consider finding another position.
Your job is to help the company make a profit and not just perform a job’s duties.
Your job is to make your boss happy that you work for him.
How you relate to your boss has an influence on how he relates to you.
A boss develops confidence in an employee that is dependable, accurate, makes good decisions based on company policies and common sense, meets deadlines, respects the chain of command, shows respect for fellow employees, and adequately represents him in meetings.
Each employee should keep in mind that someday his boss may be told to reduce his staff. To help protect himself from being cut, an employee should conduct himself each day so his boss thinks he cannot get along without him working for him.
When your boss is collecting information or evaluating potential options about a situation, it is acceptable to disagree with your boss or have different perspectives. When your boss makes a decision that gives direction to how you perform your job’s duties, you are to do what your boss says even if you disagree with him. His position gives him that authority. Your position makes you subject to following his decisions. It is possible that your boss will use facts, decisions made by his bosses, company future plans, etc. about which you do not have knowledge.
If you are as smart as you think you are, remember that your boss is your boss and is responsible to his boss for what you do. Strive hard to carry out your boss’ directions to the very best of your ability. You embarrassing your boss by messing up a work assignment is guaranteed to make your boss unhappy with you.
You may be smarter than your boss, but your position does not have the authority of his position. The one that has the authority is in charge.
Every time you get a new boss, you will go through a time period in which he will get to know and you will have to convince him that you are worthy of your current position. Getting a new boss often means he will have a management style that is different from the former boss. His employees will need to adapt to his management style. It is his opinion of your abilities that determines your future under his leadership.
If you have a grievance with your boss, it is best in the long term to go through the management chain of command when addressing a work grievance. When considering going over your boss’s head, be very sure that is what you want to do. Often going over your bosses’ head will come back to cause you problems in the future.
Remember it is your boss that performs your yearly job review, helps determine the raise you receive, considers you for promotion, and determines your job assignments.
Your opinion of how good you are as an employee is not the opinion that is used to evaluate you at yearly review time. Remember that it is your boss’ opinion of your abilities that determine if you are considered for a promotion and the rating you receive at review time.
Do not expect to get a good rating at review time when you have been causing your boss, his boss, and your co-workers problems. Getting to keep your job may be the best you can hope to get.
When you are being considered for a promotion, you will be compared to how well other employees perform their jobs. If there are four employees that are being considered for one promotion, the management staff will have to determine which of the four employees they think will best perform the duties of the new position. It is not just your abilities that are being considered, but the abilities of the other three employees.
At all times, use the Golden Rule to guide how you treat co-workers, other employees, management staff, customers, etc.
Show respect for your boss and his authority.
How you treat your co-workers reflects the respect you have for them. Disrespecting your co-workers will often haunt you in the future. The disrespected co-workers will wait until they have the opportunity to show the same disrespect for you. It is possible that a co-worker may someday be your boss. You may not think a co-worker is able to do a good job, but you should still be courteous toward them. How you treat them shows your boss the type of person you are.
Does not take credit for what other employees accomplish.
Be very careful using terms like silly, foolish, dummy, doesn’t know what his is doing, etc. to describe your boss and his decisions even if your boss is not present. Your co-workers can report your statements to your boss. An uncontrolled tongue can get people into trouble with their bosses.
Control your emotions when reacting to a decision made by your boss or co-worker that has the authority to make the decision. It is not a sign of a wise person that shoots himself in the foot by making foolish statements.
You may think it is fun to push other employees’ hot buttons to watch them get irritated or upset. This type of action will soon cause the employees to complain to their bosses. Eventually the complaints will be dumped on your boss. Do not be surprised if your boss is not happy with having to deal with your foolishness and especially if he has already talked to you about your behavior.
Your job is to do what your boss tells you what to do and how to do it. Do not forget this fact.
Work to develop in your boss’s mind a confidence in your abilities to perform your duties and competently represent him in meetings.
A boss wants to have an employee that he can assign a task and not have to worry about the task being successfully completed.
A boss will not assign a critical task to an employee that will require the boss to constantly check up on what the employee has done toward completing the critical task. This type of employee is a drain on the boss’ time.
To a boss, a good employee is one that does his job the right way the first time.
When your boss tells you to perform a specific task, the assignment may be the result of him being given an assignment by his boss that includes you performing the assigned task.
When you create a problem at work, your boss may be called into his boss’ office and is “read the riot act” about keeping his direct report employees in line. When your boss talks to you about the problem you created, do not be surprised if he passes on the irritation his boss showed him. A boss does not take kindly to being chastised for something he did not do. The best thing you can do is apologize for creating the problem and convince your boss that you will not do it again which means that you will not do it again. After apologizing to your boss, do what you can do to smooth over the impact the problem has had on other employees.
Decisions you make demonstrate how well you know how to perform your job.
What you have achieved in the past has helped you achieve your current position. Today, you are evaluated on what you do today and not on what you did years ago. Do not forget this fact. You can decide to live in the past, but your boss has to deal with what happens today.
A smart employee is one that recognizes and honors where his authority starts and ends and where his boss’ authority begins.
You can disagree with your boss, but it is not acceptable to ignore your boss’ directions and not do what he tells you to do.
If you refuse to do what your boss tells you to do, this is an act of in subornation. Depending on the situation, it can be cause for dismissal. It is definitely a reason for you to receive a reprimand by your boss. A reprimand by your boss can have a very negative impact on your yearly review.
It is not a bad thing to take a question to your boss when you do not know the answer so your boss can give you directions. It is a bad thing to not ask for your boss’ help when you need it. Not asking for direction will often lead to poorly completing a task.
Do not fool yourself by over rating your abilities and your importance to the company. What will be your boss’ opinion of you if he has to select some of his employees to cut if the company decides to downsize its staff?
If you do not follow documented procedures, your boss cannot support you if you get into trouble. If you follow documented procedures, your boss will support you if you get into trouble.
As you perform your job’s duties, make sure you understand for what you are accountable, to whom you are accountable, and what is your authority. If you overstep your authority, it often will cause you problems.
Changes are constantly occurring in a business environment. If your job’s duties change, you are expected to grasp the changes and perform your job according to the new duties, procedures, etc. You may not like the changes, but it is your job to work to do your best within the new organization structure. Your boss will be very happy with employees that accept the changes that are made to their job’s duties due to new procedures, new products, reorganization to the department organization structure, etc.
If you have a question or comment about the content of this article written by Dale Lee, notify Dale. When you send an e-mail, be sure to include the article in question's title, your name, and your comments/questions. Dale is interested in hearing from you.
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August 7, 2005