Boss Relationship

Here are a few tit bits about boss relationship.

One frequent question that I receive during my seminars is like; my boss is very moody. If I catch him in a bad mood I can neither have a good discussion nor do I get good decisions. How would you deal with this?

Here are possible answers, some I need to give credit to my seminar participants.

Though I am not a friend of too many emails this maybe an exception. Send your boss an email and ask if a meeting later would be convenient and when.

Ask a stakeholder who works closely with the boss, e.g. a personal assistant, about the ‘weather report’.

Start the meeting with a lesser discussion point. If the mood is bad, keep the important issue for another meeting.

Another typical situation. What do you answer when your boss’ boss asks you how things are going and invites you to be also critical? If you think here is your chance to complain about all what is wrong in the company or even with your boss, think gain. I suspect that many senior managers, not necessarily all, ask this question to show closeness to people, but don’t really want to be bombarded with problems. (They already have enough). Also think how often you have a chance to talk to your boss’ boss. Normally, not that often. So, here is your window of opportunity to make an impression as a complainer or a goal getter. I would always go for the positive answer. Show enthusiasm about your work. Be positive. It is, of course, okay to mention challenges (we don’t say problems) but at the same time also project confidence that you (together with your team / boss) know how to deal with it.