#TiredTalksSeries: Managing your Manager…

Hey you… Yes you! Let’s have a quick convo

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I know you’ve heard about the phrase ‘manage your manager’

And for most of the time, you found it tedious and ironic

BTW I do too.

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However, lets simply continue this conversation…

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I completely understand your dilemma with this oxymoron, right?

Someone is paid to manage you as his job!

He gets a gigantic title, vantage recognition, much better pay than you do and a beautiful corner office, all to make your work easier and life better.

But now, it looks very much like he’s now the biggest barrier to your professional satisfaction and personal fulfilment.

And then to make matters worse, you have now been saddled with his responsibility…

Managing the so-called ‘manager’.

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So lets unpack it, what really does it mean.

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It’s simple… your boss is not robot! He is a man or woman

With all the frailties and burdnes that our humanity bestows.

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Surely, (s)he earns a shit ton of money far above your current pay bracket

And (s)he carries multiple years of experience and expertise that you only dream about today

But beneath all his stack of degrees and wads of cash still lies a human

(S)He nurtures their fears and responds to the pressures and demands of work in ways that clearly belies the big title just beneath their names on the door post.

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Very likely, he or she has a Boss that is also a struggle to manage.

More possibly, the home front is imperfect and not without its burdens.

Its not unthinkable to imagine that life has not really been as colourful as the brightness of his typical ties or the sparkle or her customary shirts.

She may keep a professional mien all day, but carries a heart as confused as a hare in headlights or a mind as chaotic as a mare in a box.

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Even more importantly, is knowing the man or woman you report to.

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What triggers or tickles them professionally: What breaks them into smiles or puncture them some pins in their temple?

How do they consume and regurgitate information: In quantitative details or qualitative summaries? Do they like person-to-person approach to solving problem or digital summary via mails & Executive brief?

What irks or inspire them on the job: Are they a nit-pick sucker for details and timeliness or worshippers of big goals and targets?

And what do they consider to be success on their role! It's never enough knowing your own KPIs, you need to understand what his/her KPIs are so you can help him achieve his goals too!

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Many Junior Executives think all they have to do is their job, and that’s all

Until they realise that their job alone is not enough to meet team targets and/or organisational goals.

That responsibility falls more likely on middle managers and supervisors, whose brief is to shoulder the imperatives of the organisations.

And for these reasons primarily, managers have a wider sphere of scope.

It’s never enough for them that you win and their primary job is not always to make your life easier.

They not only have to figure out how to optimise you and your team-mates, they have to do this whilst still achieving team goals within the context of organisational demands and capability, while being imperfect humans themselves.

Phew!!!

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Of cos they fail at this sometime; some of them even fail at that exalted call most times.

Some are clearly good at their roles but bad at managing people: so they hurt you terribly

Others are great people management, but poor functional leads: so the job outcomes are the ones that suffer.

Some few are actually great at the functional and people responsibilities, but life is happening to them so bad that you only see the darkness this dealing unleashes: so everything is a mess

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The way I see it, if you really want to help yourself, you must help your manager first!

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So when you are asked to manage your manager, you need to understand that its yourself you are actually managing

You are managing the guy or lady who holds the most important key - possibly, to your career advancement, role fulfilment and job reward.

You are learning a skill that haven’t been taught at school but is clearly required at succeeding in real life.

You are seeing your manager not as an occupier of office, a carrier of title or an evaluator at appraisal, but as a person – who can be influenced, engaged, inspired and encouraged to do better and be better with you.

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So to conclude, I’ll say, first be good at your job! Nope, not simply good, be really great at your job!

Next, pay attention to your boss as a person! People give clues about who they are, so it shouldn’t be impossible to understand their interests, triggers and influences.

Third is to make a list of changes you must make to manage him/her better?

·??????How should you present information to him or her?

·??????What more could you add to your portfolio to make his role easier?

·??????What output is required in your role, that (s)he will consider to be success?

·??????What does success mean to him/her.

Forth is to execute, execute and execute again the plans

Fifth and final is to inspect and adapt! Human always evolves. The great manager last year could become an apathetic boss this year simply because of a personal tragedy, health crises or even professional disappointment you may not be aware of.

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So you need to always inspect his mood, output, outcomes and how they all impact you!

More importantly, you need to review how your management techniques and tactics impact his perception and outcomes.

Keep those that work and continue to refine them

Tweak those that don’t, and re-apply them

Oil those in frequent use so they don’t become pedantic

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No matter how autocratic, inhumane, inefficient or unsuitable your current manager may be, he/she is human after all and certainly liable to the constancy of change.

You can manage him better just enough to make your work easier and life better!

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I hope you find your way around the muddle and make the best of your career!

I trust you’ll continue to win!

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#BasamtaMusing

Nov’22