A loyal employee serving one single company/employer for his whole tenure of service has become a thing of the past. These are the days of people having 5 different employers within their 10 years of service. People always look for one or the other reason to move on. It may be due to the lack of challenging assignments, low salary, lack of proper training, no chance to grow and learn and it goes on and on…but the worst reason probably is due to a ‘poor relationship with the manager’. Why is this worst? Since all the above mentioned key motivators or retention factors can be influenced by the manager.According to workplace researchers Sharon Jordan-Evans and Beverly Kaye, when people quit, they don’t leave a company, they leave a bad boss. Survey shows up to 75% of employees leaving due to the poor relationship with their managers. A smart employee can under perform when he just can’t cope with negative interactions with his manager. It happens when you deal with an incompetent manager who can make your life totally miserable. But don’t be a foolish enough to resign and get rid of him, rather think of the ways to deal with him.

You have got to create a win-win situation by knowing how to effectively manage your boss. You may know it very well but sometimes your ego may overrule you and you can end up in trouble. All you need to do is to think from his perspective and realize that you are in a team and your success depends on each other. And obviously he has become a manager by being who he is. And at the end of the day he protects your job.

Remember you work WITH your boss not FOR him!! Start practicing to cope with your boss to make your career succeed!!!

He is an ultimate ‘Delegator’: He hardly works and is over delegating all of his work to me especially the tough ones. His desk is so clean and tidy and leaves office early assuming me to sit late hours and finish the work.

Is this happening only to you in your team? If yes, then this could be a sign of his trust on you that he does not have with other team members. Is he over-delegating or relying on you?  Recognize yourself. Practice to work smart by managing your time & effort. The more responsibility you have, more is the opportunity to grow in your organization. Make yourself an invaluable resource, someone who is vital to his team and the organization as a whole. Thereby use the opportunity to create a long term advantage for you.

He is a dreadful ‘Brainteaser’: I wish he could have given me a little more clarity to my job. He rarely speaks to me and never gives me clear instructions but still expects me to do the job myself. I doubt whether he knows of my existence in his team.

Get a feel for how your other team members think of his instructions. If they are getting clear directions then it may be your problem of not listening to him well or not using common sense to understand his instructions. Provide him updates about your task statuses and get his feedback to have a better understanding. Inform him the inadequacy of information you have in order to complete the given tasks. Utilize each one on one meeting with him to find out the resources and information you need, which will improve your performance on the given tasks.

He is a ‘headache’ on weekends: He gives unreasonable deadlines usually on Fridays and expects me to come up with an outcome on Monday morning. This generally spoils my weekend plans with family and it seems that he does not even know that I have a personal life outside of my work life.

Is this happening frequently over the past few months? If not, understand what makes him to assign you this urgent priority task.  He might be getting extraordinary pressure from the organization and he found you a competent performer that he can depend on. But if this is happening frequently over the past few months then it might be because he found you to be a unsatisfactory performer. Inform him about the impact of having unreasonable deadlines that might hinder your inability to perform additional tasks. Don’t ever complain about your boss and don’t show that you are an excuse machine. Rather help him by coming up with a solution like how much you may be able to finish and how much time you need to do the task in its utmost perfection. E.g. You can let him know that you can complete 75 % of the task by Monday or given until Wednesday you will be able to complete the task. Give him this information early and not when he expects the work to be complete.

He is a ‘Glory grabber’: He rarely appreciates my work or recognizes my effort. Takes credit for his team’s good work but does not acknowledge his individual team members to other members in the organization.

Make your work always visible in your department by involving yourself in specific tasks where his superiors are also involved. Establish network and relationships with other members and teams within your department and organization including the superiors of your manager. Spread a good word about your team including your manager which ultimately makes the glory grabber happy and he can’t help but appreciate you. Make sure you put in objective information in your manager’s year end reviews, if your organization has such a process. Be sure to cite specific examples.

Whatever be the problem with your manager, always remember…..

• Communication: Remember effective and timely communication can reduce and ease a lot of the above problems and make your work enjoyable and fulfilling.

• Look in the mirror: Rather than looking for reasons to blame your boss, look in the mirror and analyze if you are the problem. If you cannot understand your own weaknesses you cannot improve as a person and a professional and these problems will follow you everywhere!!

And if none of these works then it’s time for you to get rid of your BOSS!! And look for a new JOB!!