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Thursday, January 24, 2013

How to cope with a demanding boss

Here are my tips on how to cope with a demanding boss. More people have to face this situation as the workplace becomes more stressful and competitive. 

I have to state upfront that these tips do not apply to everybody and to all situations. You can follow them if you find them useful, or just ignore them if you find them to be not relevant (please note that I do not wish to enter into a debate).

Here are some points for you to consider:

1. You cannot change your boss; but you can change your attitude adn your approach.
2. If you find your boss to be demanding, quite possibly, half of the blame lies with you.
3. If you are useful to your boss, your boss will not be demanding, as he would not like to lose you. If your boss is demanding, it is likely that you are not useful to your boss.
4. A boss who behaves unreasonably and over-demanding is likely to lose many workers, and that would reflect badly on his people skills.

Having worked with may people, I find that the bad performers tend to have the following characteristics:

1. They take too long to complete the work and often come with bad work.
2. They try to do the tasks that they are not capable of handling and cause more harm.
3. They tend to be stubborn in wanting to do things their way and may end up with bad work
4. They look for reasons to justify their actions rather than learn how to act differently.

Here are some tips for you to carry out your work:

1. Complete the part of the work that you know, as early as possible
2. Hand over the completed parts, so that your boss can evaluate them; this gives you the chance to discuss the phase with your boss. 3. You will be surprised that your boss can help you find the answers ot he parts that trouble you, or point you to the people who can help you.
4. In some cases, the boss may change the requirements, if they know that the work cannot be done as originally specified.

The approach that I have suggested can be described as "doing a big project in phases, and in an interactive and collaborate way".

In my consulting work, I also have to face clients who are my bosses. I use the above approach. It worked very well for me.

I hope that you find these suggestions to be useful and suitable. 

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