I was supposed to give some advice on what people can do when they love their job, but hate their boss.
Limited to 250 words, I don’t think I did the subject justice. As a subject, it was not all easy-peezy. You can jump over there to read it, here, to see how I did. Frequently wrong, never in doubt; frequently wrong, never in doubt.
First, I don’t want to minimize how many bad bosses there are out there. There must be lots since ‘bad boss’ is the most common reason why people quit their jobs. For now, I assume that you have a boss, and that you sometimes go home and tell Hilda how he frustrates you, ignores you and generally mismanages you.
Please understand that most of us get to be ‘boss’ with little training. Even if we went to business school, that was two years spent, long-long ago. Most of what we learned about management we picked up from either our bosses along the way, some random seminar, or trial and error in real life management issues, maybe reading about it and hopefully, thinking about it. So, it’s no wonder so many of us suck at it or that the rest of us love our work, but hate our bosses. Our jobs are more predictable, consistent and even understandable. Being human, and untrained, bosses aren’t.
Are there more ideas for you if you truly do love your job, but hate your boss?
There is one big one: In dealings with your boss, assume goodwill.
There is no question that having a good boss can make all the difference in your worklife balance and attitude. Truthfully, you may have to get a second job, which is to figure out how to work with your boss so that this negative emotion, attitude and energy goes away. It is an important new job for you, one that is worth far more than a new job or even a second job that actually pays.
The first step in that entire process is to assume goodwill. Only by starting off that way will you have a chance to improve the situation.
What to do later will be the subject of future posts.
But if you have any ideas now, please drop them here. You will helping a lot of people.
4 users commented in " I Forgot One Thing Over at Today’s US News. "
you might like this. http://madconomist.com/stupid-shit-people-put-on-their-resumes
thanks Nick, this IS hilarious. For more like this, visit the best of section in Jacob Share’s bloghttp://jobmob.co.il/
he has some great resume messages too.
Hey GL,
I actually thought you did a pretty good job over at US News (250 words is TOUGH!), but adding “assume goodwill” definitely rounds it off. What I love about your advice is that it suggests shifting your own attitude as the first step. “Hating” someone is often a matter of perspective: someone we “hate” is not necessarily a bad person – he just seems so to us. Trying to understand the boss as not just a boss but as a whole human being – to “humanize” him, as it were – will go far to reduce the intensity of that emotion. The problem is that occasionally (ok, more often than we’ll want to admit), the ego will get in the way of that: we want the boss to own up to all the bad things he did to us, to take the first step, etc. Ultimately, it can be far easier to keep blaming the boss for all the things that are going wrong than to take responsibility for our part and change what we can. To get around that, we need to step out of the drama of the situation, stop the blame-game, take a higher road and a bigger perspective, and realize that by working on our own stuff first we are creating a foundation for a win-win situation. Often, that’s all that’s required to change things for the better.
Best,
Izabella
Izabella,
It is easy to understand now why you are one of the best career coaches around. Well said. Maybe you could do a guest post for sometime and answer this age old question more completely than I could or did, with specific, useable advice for people who find themselves in this awkward situation?
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