Above our level – He walks through a department and never says a word. Acknowledges peers and superiors, never subordinates.

Never cruises – You are never going to see him in your office because he never leaves his own office.

Turf battles – Does not get involved in battles and does not want to make any enemies. Instead, kicks that ball upstairs.

Ain’t in the book – If he can’t find the answer in the manual, it can’t be done.

Satisfaction – All department decisions must come from her. How dare the underling who shows independent thinking.

Open door policy – The only time it’s open is when the custodian cleans. Makes you feel real good when you walk up to his door, he knows you are there, but keeps on with whatever he was doing for another five minutes. By this tactic he sends the message that his time is far more important than yours is and you should have made an appointment.

Ethics code – The code is her version. Do as I say, not as I do. Loves vendor perks.

Impartial – Absolutely! He gives all erring subordinates a fair trial and then he promptly hangs them.

Suspicious one – He is certain that his team is out to screw him up. Watches for hidden meanings in everything they say.

Impartial opinion – “Hell, if it wasn’t for the check, none of them would show up.”

Countin’ beans – She makes you feel guilty drinking the company’s free coffee!

Preacher – Preaches, but never teaches. Has an answer for everything.

Can be counted on – She can be counted on to never be there when you need her.

Buzzy – Knows all the latest buzz words and buys all the new management fads. Has no clue whether they work or not.

Study it to death – This guy will never make a decision on the spot. It takes him forever to make up his mind.

Damn, I’m good! – This woman uses a slash-and-burn management style. When stressed or when anyone challenges her on an issue, she verbally rips the challenger apart. Notorious for her sarcasm.

Plays favorites – This guy listens to only one person in his department (besides himself). And doesn’t care who knows it.

Tough issues – He never deals with sensitive or controversial issues. Someone else solves it or he lets it die of old age.

Does you a Favor – Will make sure you never forget it!

Okay, those are some examples of how “You don’t want to be like them!” None of these fit you, do they? Of course not! It’s the other guy!

More later!

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All of us have been in a position where we have wondered about our boss. We may think: “Where the heck did she come up with that idea?” Well, it likely came from her having a wider perspective of what was happening in the workplace than you did. Just as you now see things as a supervisor a little differently than your team does, the same applies to your boss. She has access to more information and more resources than you do.

Suppose your boss comes to you and asks for advice. Later it turns out that she didn’t take your advice. You figure, “Well, that will be the last time she will ask me for advice.” Wrong. Your boss will be back for advice again in the future.

Here is why. She gets advice from a variety of sources and then considers that advice from her own perspective. Adding everything together, she may decide to go another direction. It doesn’t mean your advice was wrong.
You can take my word for it that she will be back. Because she has seen that the advice you gave her was sound from your perspective. It’s the type of input she needs to make good decisions.

Here is something else you will be doing as a leader. On occasion, you will see things that are happening within your workplace that will make you a little uneasy. Corners shaved here or there. Someone taking advantage of something they shouldn’t have. Your antenna goes up and you begin to look closer at what is happening around you. You haven’t said anything yet, but you’re watching and listening.

Guess what. Your boss does the same thing! Just because your boss does not always comment when she sees things that probably shouldn’t be happening doesn’t mean she didn’t notice it. It may be a case of her waiting to see if a pattern is forming or she may be more focused on something else at the time. But believe it. She sees a lot more than she lets on.

Author, Michael Maxtone-Graham, of Training (Lakewood Publications) said it best: “Don’t underestimate your boss’s knowledge, intelligence or awareness of what is going on. In other words, never confuse tact with ignorance.”

She may also choose to ignore what is happening as not being material to the success of her team.

Study Your Boss

You need to mentally take that person apart and see what makes him tick. That way you will be able to understand him the next time he makes you so mad you want to quit. At least you will know why he made you so mad.

Learn to anticipate what he is going to ask and have it done ahead of time. It’s a great feeling to have him ask for some information and you just reach in a drawer and whip out what he needs. One way to do this is to make notes on your calendar.

Suppose he wants annual updates of various memos for the bulletin boards such as a holiday schedule for the coming year. Make up a draft schedule ahead of time and have it ready for him when he asks for it. He may not say anything, but you just moved another step or two up the “go to” ladder.

If you see a tough job, offer to take care of it. Know what will happen next? The next time there is a tough job to do, guess whom he will ask to take care of it?
You!

When you think about it for a minute, why would you want to get stuck with every tough job that comes along? It may not make a heck of a lot of sense ………… Or does it?

Yes it does! Guess who the boss is going to look at first when a promotion comes along? It’s the leader who takes the tough jobs and handles them. That better be you. This is part of your sink or swim choices. Avoid the tough jobs and you will risk damage to your reputation as the “go to” person.

Think that anticipating your boss’s next move is going to feel like you are buttering him up? Don’t. It just makes your life easier. If it pays off later, fine. If not, you’re still less aggravated.

More later. Have a great day!

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The tough part is coming out of the situation as an impartial leader and not one who appears to side with one or the other of the parties.

Most of these disputes are no-win situations for you and/or the supervisor involved. The best you can hope for is to solve the dispute with as little damage as possible.

Here is the most practical solution for how to handle the situation. If it’s you, you need to sit down with the first one and then the other party to the dispute. You tell each of the parties that you will also be talking to the other person. You then have to let each of them air out their feelings to you in private conversations.

Note: I said private discussions. Some advisors say you should never meet with an employee alone. Here is one of the very few times where you should consider disregarding that advice.

The only way to get as much of the real story as you can is to meet with each of the parties privately and separately. They are then playing to only one audience. Having someone else with you will inhibit that conversation.

This stage is not a corrective action stage. You are not going to take any action now. All you are doing is getting the individuals to air out their feelings.

Here is a reality check for you. You are only going to get maybe 75 percent of the real story from each party.

Just remember that almost every situation involves honest, hardworking people. They truly believe their position is the right one. They have convinced themselves their version is the truth. They will tend to emphasize what they believe are their strong points. And they tend to leave out or minimize those things that might weaken their position.

Hey, that’s human nature. You are not going to change it, so don’t try. Just keep that thought in the back of your mind as you listen to what they have to say.

You will also find that they will want to cover the same ground again and again. Once you realize you are hearing the same thing again, end the conversation by telling them you will get back to them. Make sure that you do get back to them.

Once they have left, make detailed notes of the conversation before you forget the detail, but don’t put the notes in their file. Remember, this is not a corrective action meeting.

You have now talked to both parties and you realize that what you have here, more often than not, are conflicting versions of the same story. The interesting thing about these situations is that neither of them is totally wrong.

So what do you do?

Understand that most of these situations have to be resolved without a clear-cut winner. I know, that does not seem to make much sense, but at the final resolution your best bet is to make sure that neither party has “won.” It has to be a compromise on both sides.

An important thing for you to remember is you have to be a mediator, not an arbitrator that decides who wins or loses.

Each employee will want you to “take their side,” but you cannot do that.

You have to work at getting the parties to back off their positions and resolve their issues.

Once in a while, you will find a situation where, despite your best efforts, mediation is not working. You have done your best to resolve the issues, but the situation continues to flare up. It’s now starting to affect your team.

When you’re sure all efforts to mediate have failed then you have no choice but to sit the parties down together and give them an ultimatum. Tell them that you have reviewed the situation again and developed what appears to be the best solution for all concerned. At that point, you give them your ultimatum, which is…

Solve your differences or I will solve them for you.

And, obviously, that means corrective action up to and including termination. Then you have to be prepared to enforce that ultimatum.

Remember the typical organization is not a democracy. It is not a social club. It is a business that has to function. And continued discord has no place in it.

More later. Have a great day!

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