Poor management is often cited as a reason for people not enjoying their job, because they do not get on with their manager. Although there are lots of poor management skills about, there is also a need to hold up a mirror and look at what we are doing to develop the relationship between ourselves and our manager. After all, it is as much our responsibility as it is our managers.
Do you know your managers goals?
Your manager is a person with their own career aims, insecurities, fears, concerns and frustrations. They do not just oversee what you do, but are likely responsible for securing resources and promoting the Department, they will have their own performance goals and other staff to manage. Trying to understand your manager and looking at things from their perspective can be helpful in promoting a better, more understanding working relationship.
Do you know what pressures your boss is facing and what their performance goals are? How do they link to your own work and the wider business?
If you don’t know, you could ask. Not only will it help your relationship, it will allow you to understand the business more fully and assist in your own development.
How do you maintain trust in the relationship?
TRUST is vital in any work relationship, but particularly between yourself and your manager and it works both ways, but if lost, trust can be very difficult to regain. Ensure that you deliver on your promises and keep your manager up to speed with any issues. Trust can be lost if issues are relayed to your manager from another source.
Do you use your manager to offload?
Good two-way communication is essential and not just via email. Express your concerns, complaints, frustrations and rants in a positive way, providing suggestions and solutions, rather than simply offloading. Ensure that they are within the remit of your boss to be able to change or implement or else it is offloading! Develop the ability to discuss work, so that any miscommunication or misinformation can be quickly and easily cleared up between you without impacting on trust.
This can also open the door to discussions about how you like to be managed, so that they can amend their style to suit you and how you best work. In addition, it can make asking for help easier when it is needed and all avenues within your control have been exhausted.
Avoid workplace politics
Gossiping or moaning about your boss could potentially get back to them, so avoid at all costs if you want a good working relationship.
At the end of the day, a manager is only as good as the team that they manage! A manager should be working hard to maintain a happy, healthy team and team members should be working hard to make the team a success. In the end it all comes down to relationship building and communication.
Poor relationships at work can make your work-life miserable, so before you quit, hold up the mirror and see if there is anything you could change first.
