‘You can never make your boss happy’; this is something that most of us largely get to hear from our friends and peers. Well, to a great extent it is true but not in entirety. Just as we as employees expect our bosses to be understanding, approachable, avuncular and intellectually sound; similarly our bosses also have a set of expectations from us. It is not possible to meet all of them but there are some basic expectations which if remain unmet can lead to an incoherent relation between you and your boss who will soon turn into a villain of your life.
Keep him/her informed and updated
It is indispensable to keep your boss informed about your work status, challenges that you face at work, estimated deadlines and most importantly, your leave plans. These rudimentary expectations enable your boss to plan yours and his work in a manner that reduces impediments in work and would eventually make your life at work easy.
Discuss about your strengths and weaknesses openly
Your boss needs to be aware of your key strengths as it enables him to delegate work as per your skill set. Similarly, you need to be candid about your areas of improvement/weaknesses as it helps your boss to know what kind of trainings you require in future. You don’t need to be hesitant while discussing your weaknesses, it might require that extra courage and just a little bit of extra effort to imbibe certain new skills to overcome your weaknesses, but in the long run, it would prove advantageous.
Be confident and astute
Once you have absorbed yourself fully in any organizational system and understood the nitty-gritty of the workplace, just be confident enough to handle your projects with minimal guidance and execute them as meticulously as you can. Believe it or not, it is more difficult to manage people than to take instructions, so generally your bosses are caught up with multiple tasks and if you can display the ability to handle your work independently, they can be rest assured that it will be done anyhow. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that you should take pressure, just take things easy and have faith in capabilities.
Do not over commit
Never over commit just to earn those extra brownie points. If there is a tedious task at hand and you can complete only 80% of it in the designated time then it is better to be vocal about it than to take all the responsibility and ending up burning the midnight oil to accomplish the same. Committing more than what you can conveniently handle gradually deteriorates the quality of work, hinders your work life balance and portrays a negative picture when you fumble to deliver the final product that is up to the mark.
Even bosses seek companionship
It is good to maintain a bit of professional distance from your manager but sometimes he gets too secluded due to the professional decorum that he is bound to maintain. Even managers are human beings and they need some informal chit chats, jocular conversations to curb their work stress. Therefore, there is absolutely nothing wrong in having a 10-15 minute casual discussion with your boss, it could be anything but work, you can discuss about your upcoming travel plans, your areas of interest, your reviews about the last movie that you watched and a lot more. Well, make sure you don’t spend 70% of your time on that 😉 🙂
So next time when you feel that your boss is trying to take your happiness, just take into account the above mentioned points as they will help you to put yourself in his shoes. Thereby, you will be in a better position to understand his expectations and evade any potential criticism.
If it still doesn’t work in your favour, just change your job as highly skilled people are very much in demand but nasty bosses are definitely not!
