How To Build A Good Relationship With your Boss
Many employees that I know have expressed their feelings about not having a good relationship with their bosses. They mentioned that they are not happy working at an organization where the boss does not recognize their accomplishments and workloads. Some of them even said that they no longer want to work there and thus may ponder to quit the job.
When asked in the interviews about why the candidates would consider to quit a certain job, most of the answers fall under the reason of not having a good relationship with their bosses. With that being said, we can assume that when the employees quit their job, they are not leaving the organization but the boss.
That is why, I’ve shared with my colleagues and friends that we should not just let our boss manage us, but the boss should also be managed by us in appropriate ways. By managing your boss, you’ll be able to avoid unnecessary stress or thought like leaving your job.
Your boss may be a local Burmese or an expat so management styles between a boss from local and an expat may be apparently different. But with whatever kind of boss, you can achieve having a good relationship with your boss using the following ways in addition to the degree of your interpersonal skill.
📌 Try to understand your boss’ attitudes
Whether you have been appointed to a new job or you have got a new boss, try to learn your boss’ attitudes, his/her strengths and weaknesses and the viewpoints as much as you can understand well about your boss. People have different styles of working, decision-making and managing. By understanding your boss, you will find a way to manage your communication and relationship with your boss and whatever kind of work duties will be much easier to accomplish.
📌 Build trust between you and your boss
Earning trust from your boss has a great impact at work. Of course, it takes time to some extent but even during the process of building trust, your attitudes, your interpersonal skill and your behaviors must reveal how much you are trustworthy to your boss.
📌 Be a person of words (or) Be responsible
One of my ex-expat boss told me that when Burmese people answer “Yes,” it is uncertain whether that person actually means “Yes” or “No.” Because even if they responded “Yes” when asked to do a certain duty, they often failed to accomplish it within a given time, meaning that the answer “Yes” does not mean “Yes, I will finish it on time”. So, be a person of your words! Be responsible! Do as you have promised to your boss. If you expect it is impossible to accomplish something in a given time, make sure you openly tell your boss about it before giving the promise.
📌 Give solution to a problem
When problems arise at work, most employees try to bring them to their boss for solutions. But the boss usually expects proposed solutions from the employees. Employees should firstly think about two or three possible solutions to propose to the boss before reporting the problem. By doing so, your work activities can not only be improved but also be recognized by your boss. Challenges can be opportunities to reveal your ability to your boss.
📌 Be open when communicating with your bossm
When you communicate with your boss, be open and speak clearly. Even if you’ve done something wrong, don’t cover it. Be honest and tell it to your boss. Let’s say your boss and you are traveling together or eating out or doing other things together not in a normal working hour, you can openly express your boss about your ambitions, your career prospects, your problems, and the necessary support you need from your boss. In this way, your boss can understand you and what you’ve been through and you can build a certainly good relationship with your boss.
So, these are the ways to build a good relationship with your boss. Remember managing your boss means building a good relationship with him/her. In whatever kind of work, you can’t avoid meeting whatever kind of boss, be it a good boss or be it a bad boss.
If you meet a good boss, you can learn good points from him/her and if you unfortunately meet a bad boss, just do the aforementioned ways to manage your boss. Challenges must be accepted and solved out and if you could overcome these challenges, you will be able to build a good relationship with your boss.
Laura Cho
