The Boss of My Boss is Me, by Marc LeVine

Take the time and energy to manage your boss the same way you manage your team. - David Cottrell

If you asked your manager how he or she regarded you as his or her boss, I am sure you would get an odd look and a few choice words, perhaps.?After all, a quick perusal of your company’s organizational chart will not show your boss reporting to you, guaranteed.?Truth is – he/she does!

The job of a manager is to manage the hell out of every one of his/her team members and help bring out the best in them. ?But it is never just a one-way street. It is the job of every team member to make their boss look good by helping him/her get the results they are being held accountable for by the CEO. ?

What I just “diagrammed” for you is a complete and perfect cycle for success. ?The manager-report relationship should look like an unbroken ring of cooperation ultimately leading to clear evidence of enhanced effectiveness and efficiency.?Such success can never be claimed unless this reciprocal and interdependent relationship between boss and team member(s) is not working in perfect harmony.?So - YES – The boss of my boss is me!

WARNING: We’re going to talk a lot in baseball terms, but the lessons learned apply to every type of business endeavor.

A Winning Combo

For two decades, Joe Torre was a star-caliber baseball catcher for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. ?After his playing career ended, Torre broke into managing with the Mets. ?In his first year as manager (1977). Joe led the team to a last place finish. ?Over the next four years, he never got them to a winning record. He was fired after the 1981 season ended.?

What happened with the NY Mets did not happen again when Torre moved on to become one of the greatest baseball managers of all time with the New York Yankees.?With the Mets, the winning pieces of the team did not arrive in time nor jelled enough for Torre to turn New York into a contender.?The Yankees were a very different story.?There, Joe had much more to work with.?He set the right tone and created a positive team environment in which his players wanted to play well for him. ?It also helped the team had sufficient talent to do so.

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From 1996 through 2007, Joe Torre steered the New York Yankees to 10 division crowns, six American League pennants, and four World Series wins, including three consecutive titles from 1998-2000. He finished with a winning percentage of .605, and never failed to qualify for postseason play.?For 12 seasons, Joe took no at bats, struck out none and never caught a single pop fly.?What he did do was manage the hell out of a group of ballplayers, which often included many spoiled millionaires and testosterone-boosted athletes. It was not an easy task to bring such a group of individualists together to play as one cohesive winning unit.?But he did it.

A Player’s Coach

A good boss – in any industry – has a team that wants to play for him/her and can manage him/her well. That means that each “player” is just as motivated to win as their boss is. ?Each member of the team is focused on taking some of the pressure off their boss, especially when it comes to delivering results within their own performance(s). ?They take care of business “on the field,” so their manager can effectively take care of “front office” business. ?The players are essentially managing their bosses’ time, so that he/she can concentrate on “off the field” activities such as analyzing, strategizing, planning, reporting, evaluating other players and so forth. ?

Baseball is a business like every other, so a baseball manager has similar accountabilities as his non-sports counterparts. His players are like any other employees, who are required to perform at a high level.?For the entire effort to succeed, the team members must teach the boss how they are best managed, so they can hold their manager accountable for their development and success. ?When a baseball manager does not accept being managed by his team, he usually ends up like Joe Torre did with the Mets back in 1981 – out of a job.?The same goes for any manager, whose team members do not respond to his/her management style and ability.

Effective tips for managing your boss:

1.??????Hire a boss willing to take direction.?When interviewing for a job, try to determine what kind of boss you might be getting. ?Does the hiring manager seem coachable? ?Do you think he/she can bring out the best in you, if you train him/her right (to better understand you)?

2.??????Talk regularly. ?The best way to reach a meeting of the minds is to communicate regularly. ?Be transparent and open up to your boss about who you are and what is important to you.

3.??????Learn your boss well.?You can’t manage what you can’t understand. What does your boss need (from you) to help him/her get the best out of you? And what do you need from your boss to interest him/her enough to want to help you succeed.?In baseball, when players don’t coach their manager well enough, they usually end up in their manager’s “dog house” and either don’t get to play or get traded away.

4.??????Help fill in the gaps. ?Every boss still has much to learn from the people performing the actual work. Just like in sports, the game of business continues to evolve because the current “players” spot and recommend or reveal ?through their on the field play – smarter approaches to improving “the way the game is played.” ?When an employee suggests a better way to work he/she has essentially trained his/her boss on how to leverage whatever the new improvement is.?The boss can then manage the hell out of his/her team using the additional time saved as a result of the new improvement.

5.??????Promote your boss.?When a manager does a great job, the CEO usually responds with a raise and or promotion.?His/her team members respond by “promoting” their boss throughout the entire organization and to others outside the organization, as well.

If you manage your boss well, he or she will manage you even better!

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The Author

Listen to Marc's latest interview on “Failing for You” with Jordan Yates

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Marc LeVine

Marc LeVine is a graduate of Syracuse (NY) University with a degree in Industrial Psychology, Marc is currently Talent Acquisitions and Learning and Development Lead at Thermo Systems. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Talent Acquisitions Award from HR Awards in 2021.

His prior employment includes senior Human Resources and Staffing Industry management roles with Edgewood Properties in Piscataway, NJ, Brickforce Staffing in Edison, NJ, InfoPro Inc. in Woodbridge NJ and Plainsboro, NJ and Harvard Industries in Farmingdale, NJ, a former Fortune 500 company. He also served as Director of Human Resources for New Jersey Press, the parent company of the Asbury Park Press, Home News and Tribune and WKXW-NJ101.5. Earlier in his career, Marc served as Director of Career Services and Placement at Union Technical Institute in Eatontown and Neptune, NJ. In addition, Marc owned and operated Integrity Consulting Associates, a New Jersey based Human Resources and Social Media Marketing firm for 11 years. Marc also served as Council President in his hometown of Freehold Borough, NJ