Practical Coach: Management Skills for Everyday Life, The

Managing Your Boss

Your relationship with your boss plays a critical role in your task effectiveness, performance ratings, career progress, and psychological well-being.^[42] Although most people take it for granted that it is the boss's job to manage employees, fewer people realize that it's equally important for employees to manage their boss. When they do realize the importance of managing their boss, their strategy is often one of “cautious adaptation.”^[43]

Many employees believe that there is little that they can do to influence their boss directly, so they use indirect means. They try to guess what the boss wants, bend over backwards to try to please the boss, or keep a low profile to avoid the boss. These self-protective strategies rarely ...