6 Ways To Handle A Tough Boss

As someone who has handled extremely tricky & prickly corporate clients in my IT Service world of 22 years, having difficult stakeholders with conflicting priorities and having had amazing bosses...

I am pouring some of the top strategies that now has changed the way my own clients now navigate difficult bosses.

So well, there are 6 strategies you can use to handle a tough boss effectively.

Strategy No 1- Understand your boss's motivation

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I once had a client who would summon me to his office to question people coming 5 min late! Made my life hell.

And I am really happy that I chose the option of trying to understand his motivation rather than judging him.

CHANGED my relationship with this client!

Remember EVERYONE wants to do a great job. And if they see you as a hurdle, they will try to keep clear of you or consider you a nuisance to be removed

Understand what is your manager's personal motivation, personal definition of success.

Then see how you can align with that. How you can enable that.

This itself will take care of 80% of the difficult situations.

Strategy No 2- Align With Your Boss

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Before you jump to judge, I do not mean sucking up to your bosses.

I worked for 22 years and had amazing bosses except this one sucker.

And I have always had great alignment with my bosses.

NO ONE will ever claim that sucked up to them.

Because I did not. I just aligned with them. I made it my business to help them be successful.

Strategy No 3- One step at a time

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Rome wasn't built in a day!

When you want something from your manager - especially a tough one - you need to break down what you want in series of wins.

And get one win at a time in one discussion!

THIS is a huge secret of managing tough bosses - THIS has changed so many of my client's relationship with their managers that it is a story in itself!

Just get one win - move to the next one next time.

And hey, see how YOUR win translate to your manager's win FIRST.

Strategy no 4 - Keep up the pretences

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Yes, I know, I hate this too.

But if you are not perceived to be structured- you are going to have a problem.

Maintain a notebook, take notes and share them back for a STAMP.

You will also ward off an attack later on as you will build up documentation about your work.

Strategy No 5- Solutions rather than problem

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This is easier said than done.

A tough boss can be really mean if they start seeing you as a "Always with a problem".

Way too many people miss this - you have to ALWAYS go to a tough boss with options, solutions and facts rather than ideas!

You ALWAYS need to be the person who has options and solutions rather than problems.

Even when there is a seemingly unsolvable problem - you can phrase it with: "I believe in your own experience, there must be a solution to this, but I cannot lay my hand on it"

Strategy No 6 - Build Your Eco System

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You need to work on building your eco system within your company.

For once, your manager's manager and their manager MUST know who you are.

And yes, your boss can become an obstacle as they may not give you the visibility but you have to find a way to do it.

And no, the way is not to start delivering vegetable at their home.

Easiest is to stalk their LinkedIn and comment on their content or share content tagging them.

Another one is to participate in social occasion and strike up conversation.

Even if you are an introvert - nothing stops you from taking genuine interest in their life.

Remember, the most wonderful sound to human ears is their own name - so talk to them about themselves, their motivations, their work, families - whatever you think.

Whatever it takes- you MUST build your eco system within the company.

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These should really take care of 99% of all your boss' worries.

And as for the remaining 1%....

You do not have to win every battle - quit while you are ahead. Find a different place where you can work with better people.

Your boss literally represent the company for you. Choose them wisely!

What would you add to this?