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How To Select Your Boss

– A three pronged strategy

Jane had been out of the country for over a year and returned home to start a new job as a physiotherapist in a family run business. She was excited about the new role as the husband and wife team who ran the practice had been asking her for some time to join them as a full time employee.

During the first week, Jane did not have as many patients as others, so she was asked to work less hours. This seemed fair as it does take time to build a personal clientele: However in her second week, it became obvious that Jane’s full time job was to be part time. Her bosses were setting her up to work part time hours. She also started to get a bit uneasy about her new boss’ management styles. Firstly they seemed unwilling to talk about her hours. Then, she found her patient files had been examined without advising her, nor had she been given any subsequent feedback, either positive or negative. Jane is someone who likes to be involved and communicated with. Her ideal job had started to lose its shine.

Have you had an experience where you found out after starting in a new role that your boss was not all that you thought he or she might be?

When applying for a new job, we are (rightly) concerned about putting our best foot forward and making sure that we are selected. Often we neglect the fact that it is a two way street – they select us and we select them. Unfortunately, the consequences of not selecting the right boss only become obvious once we are in the new role. My research (see “Where Have All The Honest Managers Gone?”) clearly shows that people do not leave an organisation, they leave a boss! It is therefore vital that when you apply for a position, you not only look at the organisation and the role, but you also interview your boss with as much thoroughness as he or she interviews you.

How do you interview your prospective boss, particularly when the focus of the employment interview is the other way round?

Well, before you even get to the interview, it is very useful to jot down what your selection criteria are for an effective boss. You should do this in much the same way as you would if you were a manager selecting a new employee. Everyone’s “ideal” will be different, but here are some points to help you develop a profile of your ideal boss. Add your own to the list.

· Think back to previous good bosses that you have had. What made them “good” for you?

· Conversely, think of the reasons why some previous bosses have not been so good. Avoid these at all costs.

· How much autonomy do you like in your job?

· How much feedback do you like to get about your performance? How do you like this feedback given?

· How much responsibility do you like to be given?

· Are you a very practical person, or more creative? How should your boss manage this?

· How do you like to be trained and coached?

· How do you like your boss to communicate with you?

When you have drawn up your selection criteria, place them in priority order. This is so that you can make a sound and realistic assessment of your potential boss’ ability to manage you in the style which bests suits you.

Once you are clear on your criteria, weave them into the following boss interview process.

1. Look for clues during the interview.

You may get some idea of how your future boss operates by the way the interview is conducted . . .

· Did it start and finish on time? Is this important to you?

· How courteous was your prospective boss? Did this have an impact on you?

· Did he/she allow you the opportunity to put your point without talking over the top of you? How well listened to did you feel?

· Did he/she discuss examples of previous employees in a confidential manner?

· Did he/she explain the performance requirements of the role? Did you gain a very clear idea of what will be expected of you in the role?

· Was the room layout formal or informal? Did this matter to you?

· Finally, from the examples and explanations given, what management style do you believe your prospective boss has? Does this match your ideal?

2. Find out what your prospective boss’ ideal employee looks like.

When the interview gets to the “Do you have any questions?” stage, here are some questions you might like to ask. The aim here is to get him/her to describe their ideal employee.

For example, you may ask:; “You’ve probably had some very good employees working for you. What is it about them that made them so good?” Of course, you can also ask about his or her poor employees as well.

These questions may sound as if they are looking at the employee and in fact they are. However, the answers the boss gives will be about the things he or she looks for and judges their employees on and most importantly, how he or she manages them. Look for signs during their answers that tell you about your selection criteria, such as autonomy, responsibility, initiative, communication and so on.

3. Assess your boss against your selection criteria.

You should have a question ready for at least each of your three most important selection criteria. For example, if “autonomy” is a key need for you, your question may be something like “Autonomy is important to me as I find it very motivating. Can you please give me an example of how you manage the level of autonomy you give your people?” Or perhaps if “training” is important for you, your question might be ”I like to learn as much as I can about the job and the organisation. Can you please give me an example of the training or coaching you provide for your people?”

In all of your boss selection questions, keep asking for examples to illustrate. Examples describe what the boss does and says with his/her employees. With enough examples, you can develop a very good idea of your prospective boss’ management style.

Finally, if your interview throws up some doubts in your mind about the prospect of a positive relationship with your prospective boss, my advice would be to “pass” on this role and look for another opportunity. Try not to become too seduced by the excitement of the role, the salary or the conditions. Ultimately, all of these will pale by comparison with the ongoing relationship you have with your boss. Keep in mind that it is a selection interview – for both of you.

Why Do We Have Conflict At Work?

– The Ubiquitous Position Description

I once applied for a job as a Training Manager in a dynamic and rapidly developing organisation. My application was successful and I was delighted to find out that one of my colleagues whom I got on with very well from my previous organisation (we occasionally had barbecues at one another’s homes) had also applied for a job with the new organisation and would be working alongside me. Apparently and unbeknown to one another, we had both applied for the same role as Training Manager. They had liked us both and as they were expanding rapidly, they employed both of us. They designated my role as “Senior Training Manager” and his as “Training Manager”. Over barbecue discussions, we both said how much we were looking forward to working together in this new and exciting environment.

A couple of weeks into our new roles, my colleague and I were starting to have some differences, which by the end of three months, had escalated to conflict. Why? We liked one another, got on well together both socially and as work colleagues in our previous organisation and shared very similar views on the role of the training function. The problem lay in the “how” the training function was to be managed – I had my views and he had his. Our new organisation had developed Position Descriptions for each of our new roles, but they were written in “input” terms – i.e., how we should do things rather than “output” terms, i.e.., what we were each expected to achieve. As a result, there was major overlap in role descriptions and so our disagreements became “role conflict”.

One of the real problems I find with Position Descriptions is that they are often written in Input terms (i.e. what people do) rather than Outputs (i.e. what people achieve). This is often sadly also true for PD's written in KRA (Key Result Areas) terms. The result? People can stick rigidly to what they are expected to do rather than looking at the bigger picture and what they need to achieve for the betterment of their team and ultimately, the organisation. In addition to the potential for role conflict, this can lead to other problems. For example, in larger organisations, particularly where there is a culture of "rigid hierarchy", use of PDs in this manner invariably leads to conflict and the PD being used as alibi paper when something that should have been achieved, slips through the cracks (even the best written PDs will not cover all eventualities, that is why the focus on outputs is so important). In smaller organisations, use of PDs written in input terms can lead to a feeling of being overworked or "this is not my responsibility" when the person has to do something that is not specifically written into their PD.

The answer to all of this, for both large and small organisations, is to use the PD and in particular the writing of the PD, as a process of agreement between people as to what their output areas are. It is the process of discussing and agreeing on output areas that is critical for effective working relationships, job design and ultimately organisation structure, not the piece of paper.

PDs should not be written in isolation by one person, nor should they be written by the HR Department. The HR Department's (or HR person's) role in PDs is to coach, train and facilitate the writing of the PDs by the people who will be doing the actual work.

How do you write effective Position Descriptions that are expressed in output terms? One way is to convert existing PDs. For example, look at the following list of duties from the Supervisor’s PD at a large main frame computer centre:

1. Supervise and direct the operations of the computer room in a large scale, multi-mainframe operations environment.

2. Provide on-the-job training aides for operating staff to ensure the standard operations procedures are maintained.

3. Provide assistance in the analysis and correction of systems hardware, software and production failures and/or notify appropriate personnel.

4. Maintain computer usage records and operational logs.

5. Deputise for the shift manager.

All of the above are expressed as “inputs” rather than “outputs” In output terms they could be written:

1. Supervise and direct the operations of the computer room in a large scale, multi-mainframe operations environment. Would be rewritten as . . .

· Mainframe down time is minimal

· Quality output standard of data is maintained

· All staff meet their performance standards

2. Provide on-the-job training aides for operating staff to ensure the standard operations procedures are maintained. Would be rewritten as . . .

· Standard operating procedures followed

· Errors are minimised

· Problems solved within specified time and quality standards

You may like to try your hand at rewriting 3, 4 & 5!

As you do, you will notice that outputs start to repeat themselves fairly frequently. That’s because outputs focus on the results not “how “ the job is done. Although “how” is important, it can be stated in terms of standards that must be met and maintained – overstating the “how” and breaking it down to a small number of tasks, leaves people with no room for initiative nor decision making and often leads to role overlap or underlap which eventually ends in conflict.

How do we arrive at outputs? Very simply. Just add “ . . . so that” to each input and complete the sentence. Or, ask “Why?” of each input and keeping asking “Why?” until the answer becomes an output. For example, “Supervise and direct the operations of the computer room in a large scale, multi-mainframe operations environment . . . so that . . . Mainframe down time is minimal . . . so that . . . Quality output standard of data is maintained . . . so that . . . All staff meet their performance standards”

Most PD’s written in output terms will have no more than 5 or 6 outputs. For lower level roles, this can rise to as many as 8 – 10 (although be careful that none of these are or become inputs). The more senior the role, the less number of outputs a manager should have until ultimately the CEO has only one – “Stakeholder expectations managed effectively”

Remember as I said earlier, it is the process of discussing and agreeing on output areas that is critical for effective working relationships, job design and ultimately organisation structure, not the piece of paper that the PD ends up on. So make sure the people doing the work are involved in writing the PDs.

Oh, by the way, you may be wondering what eventually happened between my colleague and I. He applied for a role elsewhere in the organisation – his old role was not refilled. I and the organisation had learned about “outputs” by that stage.

Managing Your Boss:

4 Rules To Live By and 4 Steps To Take

John was a former boss of mine. Before I started working for him, I had heard from others that he had a very good reputation and so I was really looking forward to working with him. The office was a very busy one with lots of customer interaction and a very heavy processing workload. After the first couple of months, I got the feeling that there was no real harmony in our relationship and I found it difficult to work out why. John was good with the customers and well liked by other staff, but we just didn’t seem to hit it off. It was not until my formal performance appraisal some months later that I finally found out what the problem was. The job I’d taken over was in a real mess and required a great deal of management skill to get it back on track, which I believed I had done well. During my performance appraisal discussion, John acknowledged my good work in this area, but (and it was a big “but” for him) he didn’t see me doing enough marketing with potential customers.

You see, John’s pet interest was marketing and he expected all of his people to make this their number one priority.

Do you know what your manager’s number one or key priorities are?

Although we often have performance discussions with our manager, how clear are we on the order of priority they have for each area of our performance? How clear are they themselves about their “expectations” of us? These “expectations” are often unwritten and in fact may be somewhat different to the formal performance requirements of the role.

So, what’s the best way to manage the relationship with your boss? There are two aspects of this; firstly four clear action steps that you can plan for and take at the start of your working partnership and secondly, four “rules” that you should follow in all your dealings with your boss to ensure a productive working relationship is maintained.

Step One: Agree your manager’s expectations of you

A simple way of doing this, is to have a discussion with him or her (preferably soon after you start in the role). Ask your manager;

· “What are the top three priorities in the role that you would like me to focus on?”

· Or, if you have a formal performance discussion, ask your manager to assign a percentage figure of “importance” against each one of your key responsibility areas (each area should be given a percentage out of a total for all areas of 100%) so that you can assess his or her priorities. You should also ask “Why this is so important?” as the answer will give you a lot of good clues for developing the relationship.

Should this discussion merely be a repeat of the formal performance requirements of your role, then you will need to gather some of the “unwritten” ways your boss will assess both you and your performance. Sometimes, the boss may not even be consciously aware of these expectations, but none the less they will be there. One good way of doing this is to ask him or her to explain their ideal employee. You can do this with a question such as: “You’ve probably had many good people working for you previously. What is it about these people that you particularly liked?” If you want some more information, you can always ask your manager to describe some of the characteristics and behaviours of their most disappointing employees.

Step Two: Assess yourself

What is it about you that impedes or facilitates working with your boss? Draw up a (short) list of “Things that I like about working with my boss” and “Things that I don’t like about working with my boss”. Work out some ways to overcome, or at least manage, the things that you don’t like, for these are probably the areas that your boss is least happy with. If necessary, ask some of your peers for assistance, particularly those who seem to have a good relationship with him or her.

You should also review the information about your manager’s ideal employee and most disappointing employee that you obtained in step one. What will you need to do to ensure that you take account of your manager’s likes and dislikes in his or her employees?

Applying this step doesn’t mean that you have to change your style or personality. However, it does mean that you need to be careful that your behaviour does not clash with your manager’s expectations.

Step Three: Understand your boss

You don’t have to become lifelong friends with your boss, but you do have to understand him or her. For example, try to develop strategies for the following:

· How does he/she like to receive information? When? What form? Does he/she like lots of detail or big picture? Give it that way.

· What is his/her number one strength? Capitalise on it.

· What is his/her number one weakness? How can you help?

· What’s the boss’ central goal? How can you assist?

· What are his/her main pressures? How can you help minimize these?

· How does your boss handle conflict? How can you help (or avoid)?

Step Four: Recognise that there are differences in style and adapt

For example, you may have different personality styles; you may be an introvert, your boss may be an extrovert, or vice versa. This doesn’t mean that you suddenly have to change, but please do think about his or her style and learn to manage it. For instance, extroverts like to work out problems by talking them through. So, if your boss is more extroverted, then it can be quite useful to talk through issues with him or her to reach a decision. Introverts on the other hand, like plenty of time to think about a problem and then discuss their ideas and possible solutions. If your boss is more introverted, then you will need to go to him or her with very well thought out proposals and recommendations – trying to reach a conclusion by talking the issues through with this style of manager will definitely not work. Make sure that you have a good understanding of both yours and your boss’ style so that you can learn to manage the differences.

Implementing the above four steps with your boss will go a long way to building a solid foundation for the relationship.

In addition to these four steps, there are also four rules that I believe you should always follow in your ongoing relationship with him or her if you want it to be truly productive.

Rule One: There should be no surprises for your boss!

Keep your boss informed of what’s happening in your area on a regular basis, particularly potential problems. If you are in doubt as to what to tell or not tell your boss, always ask yourself: “Would this information have an impact on my boss’ position?” It’s generally better to communicate too much than too little.

Rule Two: Never hide a problem

No matter how much you try, hidden problems will always come back to bite you (they are like lies – they will always find you out). Far better to be proactive. Keep in mind that you will help your situation if you present the information in a style that suits your boss; try to get the words “right” by communicating in a style that suits your boss’ communication style.

Rule Three: Always do your homework

Before approaching your boss with a question or to ask for help, always do as much research as possible so that you have the complete facts. If he or she constantly has to send you away for more information, then you have not prepared properly. Try to bring your solutions or suggested solutions with you when presenting a problem on which you want some help. This will demonstrate to your boss that you are taking initiative although you may not have all the answers.

Rule Four: Do not underrate or undercut your boss

Present a united front – support your boss with others. Disagree with him/her in private, never in public.

Finally, remember the person who has most control over your immediate future (other than yourself) is your boss. Treat him or her with that respect.