(Article Source: Hindustan Times, Brunch Magazine)
Most of us can write a book on infuriating bosses, but why waste all that energy on inferior superiors? learn how to handle them instead!
WE ALL have them. We love to hate them. We also love talking about them. Because of that, our friends also hate them. The subject crops up in almost every telephone con versation, at parties, at impromptu dinners with friends and during huddles in the office stairwell. If you are brave, you even discuss the subject with your colleague while sitting at your desk, metres from where the object of your disaffection sits.
For those still wondering what on earth we are talking about, we are referring to bad bosses, the species that has quite a few websites devoted to it.
According to HR consultant Gautam Ghosh, “A bad boss is a person who consistently has a de-energising effect on his/ her team which results in higher attrition, higher employee recruiting and training costs and loss in productivity .”
But as much as we enjoy boss bashing, the truth is there is a difference between a tyrannical boss who intellectually stimulates you and pushes you to ensure his / her high standards are met and a tyrant who is just, well, a tyrant. The former may be tough to work with, but every hour with him / her is a learning experience as you learn to push yourself harder to produce better and better work.
It is important to make this differentiation, says HR consultant Varda Pendse of Cerebrus Consultants “because often, you learn the maximum under unreasonable bosses.”
This piece is not about that kind of boss. Instead, it’s about the kind of tyrant who drives oth erwise efficient employees insane; who de-motivates and humiliates them. These bosses cause a severe amount of stress and reduce productivity at the workplace.
“Apart from the pressure of achieving targets, a large chunk of stress at the workplace is due to unhealthy superior-subordinate relationships – thwarting instead of nurturing, competitive instead of complementary says counsellor and ,” psychotherapist Reema Shah.
“Many clients cite office politics as one of the primary reasons for their stress,” she adds.
The problem is evidently widespread. Ghosh reveals that an online survey in India by Yellojobs.com found that 42 per cent of employees said they changed jobs due to noncooperative and bad superiors.
Pendse pegs that figure at 35 per cent. “In India, employees quit not so much because of bad managers but because of better career opportunities,” she says.
Here are a few case studies many of you will identify with; with tips from experts on how to deal with similar situations.
BAT OUT OF HELL
It’s been six months since she left her last workplace, but advertising professional Nimisha Patel, 28, still shudders when she thinks of her ex boss. For the first few months there Patel could do no wrong. But when the honeymoon ended, Patel could do no right. Her boss shot down every idea she gave and gave her routine work to do instead.
She sprang 15-minute deadlines on her and humiliated her in front of her colleagues. Patel’s ex-boss would also embarrass her juniors by discussing details of her dysfunctional personal life and enjoy their discomfort. The last straw was when Patel was denied leave for a medical procedure. Not only that, her boss also used that incident to call up the HR department and modify Patel’s appraisal. “She gave me the lowest appraisal, saying I was not an asset to the company and I had no ethics,” Patel says. She quit the company shortly after.
SHAH’S ADVICE: Learn to deal with it, or start circulating your resume!
“A majority of boss and subordinate clashes are due to personality differences,” says Ghosh. So it is important to find out whether your boss’s bad behaviour is across the board or is just with you.
“Often your perception may not always be a fact,” agrees Pendse. “But if you think your boss really has a psychological problem talk to his / her manager in a very rational and factual manner, outlining specific instances of irrational behaviour.
Don’t get emotional about it if you want to be taken seriously .”
If all this does not work, try to get another role in the same organisation, or find another job.
YOUR WORK IS MY WORK:
Dhiren Fernandes, 26, was very happy working as a copywriter with a leading online advertising firm in Bangalore till he got a new boss who not only didn’t know a thing about online advertising, but was clearly incompetent. Most clients rejected his ideas so he got into the habit of passing off his team’s work as his, upsetting everyone in the process.
The team members complained about their boss’s incompetence to his superior, but realised that the superior, who had hired the boss, did not want to admit he’d made a mistake. Fed up that his boss was hogging all the credit, not helping him learn anything new and, sometimes, even forcing him to modify good ideas into bad ones, Fernandes quit. “I did not quit only because of my boss. I would have quit in six months anyway It’s just that .
the bad boss accelerated my exit from the company,” he says.
SHAH’S ADVICE: Deal with it !
“Many organizations do not see a boss taking credit for others’ work as ‘bad behaviour’, since all intellectual property generated during work belongs to the employer anyway,” says Ghosh.
Since your boss is your teamleader after all, the best way is to grin and bear it. “Yes, it shows generosity on the part of the boss if he gives you credit. But if he doesn’t, think of it this way: you have done the work, so you are the one who has learnt from it,” says Pendse.
If you don’t buy this argument, next time, while at a presentation or meeting, ensure you mention that you have worked on the project with your boss or colleague, says Pendse. If you can’t do that, cheer up. After all, you have helped your boss look good in front of his bosses. That should keep your boss happy And doesn’t a happy boss mean a happy you?
PET PEEVES
Project manager Shweta Gupta’s boss shares a close personal relationship with her team member, Mayuri. Because of that, Gupta says Mayuri not only gets the best projects, she can pick and choose the projects she wants to do. Gupta’s boss often per sonally helps Mayuri with her work, a service he never extends to any other teammate. Gupta says all this is very de-motivating. “It’s not as if I want the boss’s personal attention. I don’t. I just want him to be impartial and fair,” says Gupta. She once tried bringing up the subject in a lighthearted way but her boss refuses to acknowledge that his personal re lationship with her teammate was affecting his capacity to act like a professional. Gupta has thought about quitting often, but hasn’t yet.
SHAH’S ADVICE: Introspect, then act
Both Ghosh and Pendse agree that this is a tough one to crack because your perception that your boss is playing favourites may not be fact.
“You must first ask yourself why is he playing favorites? Is there any objective reason? Does the other employee seem more confident? Does he / she get more business or revenue? Did you fail in the first assignment your boss gave you?” says Ghosh.
If after this you are sure your boss is playing favourites, ask yourself how it impacts you and your work. Try to become that favourite. If that does not work, get another role in a different team, says Ghosh.
THE FAVOUR GAME:
Gaurav Kapur, a management executive with a leading BPO company, was in an embarrassing position. His mother held a senior position in a leading company that had interests in construction and hospitality (golf clubs and leisure clubs) and his boss used to always ask Kapur to ask his mother for favours like discounts at events sponsored by her company or membership at its clubs. “He would ask me for favours I wouldn’t ask my mother for myself. But I did for him because he could be very vindictive. He used to ask other team members for similar favours too and when they didn’t deliver, blue-eyed boys would be completely alienated overnight,” says Kapur. Because of this, and other issues, Kapur gave in his resignation, but stayed on after he was informed that his boss was on his way out because of similar complaints.
SHAH’s ADVICE:” Put your foot down and say no”
“I have a very clear view on this: No boss should ever ask an employee for personal favours. If they do, you have to tell him / her very nicely that it is not acceptable,” says Pendse.
Ghosh agrees. “This is when it is time to get assertive. Make it clear that a personal request is not your role and it is interfering with your ability to produce quality work. If need be escalate to his / her boss. Always link to how it will affect the output you are responsible for,” he says.
WHILE BASHING bosses is a favourite pastime, we must not forget that there is also a boss’s point of view. HR consultant Varda Pendse feels all ‘bad’ bosses should not be tarred with the same brush. “Often, a first time manager will tend to be rude or obnoxious because he or she does not realise the importance of having a happy and loyal team,” says Pendse. But that usually changes after the boss realises that his or her behaviour is affecting productivity.
Pendse says you should instead seize the opportunity to learn how to handle your boss. People management is as much about managing your seniors as your juniors!
