[acb-hsp] FW: How to Talk to Your Boss and Fix Your Job

[Baracco, Andrew W]

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From: employment-bounces at acb.org [mailto:employment-bounces at acb.org] On
Behalf Of peter altschul
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 8:41 AM
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Subject: [employment] How to Talk to Your Boss and Fix Your Job

How To Talk To Your Boss And Fix Your Job
  BY Kevin Purdy Jan 15, 2012
  It's all too easy to spend long stretches simmering at your desk
instead
of having a straight-ahead talk with your boss.  
Here are a few strategies to help you start the conversation.
  It's easy to talk about your job with lots of people, except your
boss.
We talk to our employer differently than almost anybody else, and for
some
very good reasons--reasons that keep groceries coming and careers
advancing.
Even when the problem itself seems obvious, talking to a boss about it
makes
it seem complex.  Here are a few strategies we've gathered from experts
on
managerial and corporate relations.
  What follows are a few common questions, phrased the way they might
sound
in your head, but which you should not actually say or write.
  "You ask me questions, make little observations, and distract me eight
hours each day, unless you take lunch.  I need time to actually, you
know,
work."
  This is a common issue, especially with newly minted bosses, says Lynn
Taylor, the author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant.  
Two of the chapters in the book are about this very issue--one is about
"endless questioning," the other "neediness." It might seem like nervous
butt-covering, but there's usually an undercurrent of asserting new
authority.  "The theme is, `You work for me, therefore I can ask you
questions at any time,`" Taylor says.
  Newer bosses tend not to trust the people they're bugging regularly.
The
solution, Taylor suggests, comes in controlling the over-sharing you'll
have
to do to get their trust.  Email or message when you're starting new
phases
of projects, and set up a schedule of letting your boss know where
you're
at.  Set up meetings to answer a few different questions, where you'll
have
documents and answers on hand.  Do everything you can to let your boss
know
that you'll let them know where you're at in your work, and their
scattergun
questioning should subside.
  "It's not unlike dealing with a toddler," says Taylor.  "You need to
be a
beacon of calm, and not let them create stop-the-presses situations."
  "You change our "focus" every week and turn on a dime whenever you get
a
new opinion.  Don't they pay you to make decisions?"
  In this economic climate, indecisive managers are likely to be even
more
indecisive, says Katherine Crowley, a psychologist and cofounder of the
workplace consultancy K Squared Enterprises and coauthor of Working For
You
Isn't Working For Me.  "We call this person the `rule changer,`" she
says.
The trouble is that most organized, smart people will try to pin this
person
down, "but that's going to lead to more frustration when they change
again."
  "You have to keep checking in, but you'll get better at reading your
boss
as you do that more consistently," says executive coach Kathi Elster,
the
other half of K Squared.  "And theybll get better at making decisions,
as
they know their employees are following them."
  "Another coping tactic is to bring statistics to support the decision
you
want them to make," Crowley says.  "But when they side with you, don't
rush
to take credit, or act surprised, sarcastically or otherwise."
  Elster concurs: "It's always a good strategy to let your boss take
credit
for making a decision, even if you pushed it.  Allow them to look
affirmative to their higher-ups, and you'll benefit."
  "I feel like the unique work I do isn't really noticed because other
people here are simply louder--or because you're taking credit."
  Taylor suggests that documentation and quick response are key if you
believe some credit-stealing goes beyond accidental.  It starts, most
often,
when there's a "Muddy territorial problem that often happens on
projects."
If you write down what you're doing and when, and what you're in charge
of
on the project, and report it to your boss on a regular basis, it's
harder
for someone to snatch up your better efforts.
  The same goes for bosses who like to subsume their workersb ideas and
ingenuity.  Meet with or write to your boss on a regular basis, and go
out
of your way to pin down exactly which parts of the job you're
responsible
for.  If you have to confront them about a slight, always start and end
on a
positive note, Taylor says (which one former boss of this author called
the
"compliment-criticism-compliment sandwich").
  In any office situation where you feel a conflict coming, stick to
what
Taylor calls the CALM method--Communication, Anticipation, Levity, and
"Managing up." (Taylor explained the method in more detail for the
Gainsville Times



"I honestly can't fit this extra duty on my plate right now.  
Seriously."
  Whether it's someone's former duty, or a new task that you know is
bigger
than your boss realizes ("How about being in charge of our social
media?"),
the key, according to the K Squared consultants, is carving out a piece
and
tackling at least that.
  "I think you should be able to say that you're eager about this
project,
and that you can take a piece of it, but not all of it," 
Elster says.  "Say that if you can get your other work done faster, you
might be able to take more."
  "Or say that you'd be happy to be teamed up with someone else to
tackle
this," Crowley said.
  "You could say that you see a way to work it into your schedule in two
weeks ...  if that sticks, then you have some time to assess what the
job
really means, and report back," Elster says.
  "I just canbt talk to you, period."
  All the consultants quoted here emphasized the importance of knowing
yourself, and testing that knowledge.  Use your best means of
communication
when it really matters, whether that's an email, a one-on-one meeting,
or
having presentation-quality materials ready to make your case.  But it's
just as important to know how you generally relate to authority.
  Elster and Crowley offered up a sample chapter from Working for You
Isnbt
Working for Me that quizzes the reader on the "baggage" 
they carry from previous bosses.  If you're generally intimidated by
speaking for yourself and making your case, getting public speaking
training, such as offered by Toastmasters International can help.  And
Taylor suggests that taking a step back to assess what your boss needs
to
succeed, and working in your spare moments to fill in the gaps, is a big
part of "managing up
  But no strategy or self-awareness can help you if your boss has an
entirely different view on what's important.
  "If you can't deliver for your boss, and you can't enjoy your job
while
doing so, and nothing you do makes you look good, you have to decide if
this
is really a job you can do at all," Taylor says.  "That's a hard
decision to
make."
  Copyright B) 2012 Mansueto Ventures LLC.  All rights reserved.  
l
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