On my way to work I see a hoarding for a chair which is said to help you get rid of pain caused by poor posture. It uses a tagline that, I am sure, catches a lot of people’s attention, ‘The pain in your neck at work is just not your boss.’
Hating the boss is the favourite pastime at work, as I have gathered in the past decade or so. Over cups of coffee, in the restrooms, in the meeting rooms, in the corridors, while waiting for the elevators, people are wrung with agony, beset with pain, twisted with anger, lamenting what the boss did, did not do, almost did, almost did not do, would have done, could have done, and maybe could have almost not done.
Any which way, (s)he has hardly any hope of getting out of it alive!
On the other hand, bosses are expected not to discuss their teams, crib about them, or vent. That is decried as ‘un-boss-like’ and unprofessional.
It is quite interesting to note that, according to some surveys, folks in India are relatively more obsessed with hating the boss. Psychologist attribute it to the socio-psychological roots – over the centuries, people have expected a leader to be a source from which flow all possible aids: help, assistance, knowledge, comfort and guidance. As goes a hymn, Gods are invoked as being mother, father, friend and buddy. Could that be the reason bosses are expected to be the source of much more than a single person can provide?
Good organizations struggle to keep providing to make the employee happy. They set in place processes, feedback mechanisms, and pulse checks to ensure the employees feel better. But weighing everything, I don’t believe that processes, beyond a certain point will push the dissat curve towards green.
I believe bosses need to be recruited/groomed and held accountable by the best possible processes. And, indices other than employee satisfaction measure their performance, outputs, and results.
Once that is in place, it’s time to focus on the employee – explain what is expected lucidly, clarify performance goals, coach, measure and feedback.
And, if things do not seem to be good, don’t be squeamish about the ‘S’ word (I meant ’sack’!) for either parties.
It’s a 2-way street.
Finally, to throw a stone, I feel one should ensure his/her track-record is impeccable first. If a review mechanism tells that it is not, the person should keep that stone down, meditate, channelize the energy flowing towards anger into a stellar performance, and then look for that stone. But, you know what, once the anger is channelized, you won’t even feel like looking for that stone.
Trust me!
3 responses so far ↓
sarosh // July 4, 2009 at 10:40 pm |
One of youe besst yet. More importantly don’t know when this trend will change?
Binoy // July 5, 2009 at 12:18 pm |
Rachna,
You have detailed what 95% plus people would think and who are still waiting when would this problem be solved. The rest of of the 5% don’t have a boss.
Many bosses mistake leadership in Management as “the boss is always right concept”, you don’t listen or you have another view, you are out termed as an attitude member of the team. I would call it immaturity or insecurity.
What one would look from a boss is somebody who will be able to guide you right towards the required objective and support your career development rather than bringing in false ego, superiority complex, favouritism and biased approach, being very sarcastic, critisim which is not genuine, being loud and self appreciative and I’m the power attitude. All this contributes to somebody hating a boss.
I agree with your point that the organisation should have a process or mechanism to bring an effective control to this. Human attitude can only be controlled by a process methodology. E.g Just like you have a police to control crime, a traffic signal to control traffic. Just imagine if we did not have a police or a traffic signal what would have been our state of affairs.
Regards,
Binoy
Preethi // July 8, 2009 at 1:31 pm |
To add another dimension, a boss has certain deliverables and an employee has some as well. Each have to be accountable to that role. Why do we give super powers to people in positions of authority and hold them to ransom as we think of them as super (women / men) & not human beings?
I read once somewhere, “Even Gods have feet of clay” !
Why do we give the power to the boss to affect us with a look, a word, or a gesture? Why do we place so much of “Larger than life” expectations so that any Manager cannot measure up to it.
I am completely with you that we need to “Ground” both, Managers from a sensitivity & Diversity & people skills and Employees from a reality appraisal and accountability perspective. We don’t need vigilance. We own our growth
Cheers
Preethi