Work is hard enough without a boss you don't get along with. Make your life easier by getting on the boss's good side.
The quickest way to workplace misery is not getting along with the boss. Co-workers you can avoid, but a difficult boss is inescapable.
You can’t expect your boss to change to accommodate you. Even if you feel your boss is in the wrong—or unreasonable, or tyrannical—the only behavior you control is your own. (Unless you’re a Jedi. But then your boss is Yoda, and he gets along with everyone.)
The single-most important thing to make sure your boss likes you is to do an excellent job. Well, duh, you’re thinking. (I can tell. I am a Jedi.) Of course I do a good job. But do you, honey? DO YOU?
Perhaps you do a great job—phenomenal, even—and the boss just doesn’t notice. Or perhaps (wait for it!) you think you’re doing a great job, but not according to your boss’s wishes. What you think of as perfect and what he/she thinks of as perfect may be very different. And there’s the rub. (Note to Shakespeare: what does that mean?)
In order to get on your boss’s good side, you must see yourself from their point of view. Here are a few ways to do that.
1. Listen. This is the biggest breakdown in most office environments—people don’t truly listen to one another. And a fast-track to a boss who hates you is failing to properly follow instructions. Next time you have face-time with your boss, be prepared to truly listen. Remember that Active Listening Seminar your Social Studies teacher made your class do in high school? Do that. Repeat the key points back to your boss in order to clarify and remember better. Be in the moment—don’t allow your mind to wander to what you’ll say in response. Write the important stuff down: deadlines, dates, figures, and even instructions that might seem simple at the time.
Most people think their memories are better than they actually are. But all it takes is a few phone calls or e-mails in between to wipe a conversation from your memory. It doesn’t hurt to write stuff down—worst case scenario, you won’t need it. Best case, you do need it, and find that you’re remembering it wrong, so you correct your mistake before the boss sees it.
2. Ask questions. Don’t assume anything. If anything is unclear, ask about it up front.
3. But don’t be a pest. Unless your boss is a micro-manager, some things are up to your discretion. Don’t interrupt meetings or conference calls to ask about a font for the memo or go over instructions she’s already given you. Be self-sufficient.
4. Make him/her look good. To clients, to their boss, heck, even to their spouse. This is as simple as having assignments ready in time (a boss going off to a meeting with the CEO without the figures he asked you for will be a grumpy boss, indeed), or making an off-hand comment in earshot of a client: “She’s the only boss I’ve had who has never missed a deadline!”
Remember, you don’t have to kiss up or pal around to be liked by your boss. Just be the best employee you can be, listen to your boss’s needs, and follow-through. Even if your personalities don’t click, he’ll have to respect the job you’re doing, and that will make your work life pleasant.
