Bosses That Don't Get Much Done

It''s a most interesting experience to observe bosses/supervisors at work. Some are very authoritative, some are always angry, some try to please everyone, and some just never seem to get much done. The last type is the one we''ll discuss here. Generally you''ll find that they are the eldest child in their family of birth. They''ve experienced the loss of love whent their sibling came into the home. Since then they''ve developed behaviors to earn love by getting respect, admiration, and approval. These behaviors carry over into their adulthood to be experienced by those they work with.

What you find is that this type of boss spends a lot of extra time on the job. Many things land on their desk to be done but few of them get done. It isn''t that they don''t want to do it, they just don''t remember to do it. Something else comes up, the previous things are forgotten. Worse yet, rather than focusing on what is to be done now, they look to the future to what they could do. All of this behavior is the result of seeking the respect of those under them, the admiration of their peers, and the approval of their superiors.

What can you do? In a kindly way, keep reminding them of what should be done in the here and now. You can show them respect so that they feel cared about by you. One behavior that will not help is to be angry as well as demanding. When you demonstrate this kind of behavior to this type of boss, you show that you don''t respect them. Therefore, they won''t do anything for you.

Something else you can do is to do what you can to help your boss impress his superiors. This will go a long ways to gaining you points with this type of boss. He or she will clearly show you appreciation for what you''ve done. If you can keep this type of boss on the current task, you''ll assist her or him in gaining the approval of his or her superiors. This will do volumes for your boss'' self-esteem. It will do good things for your''s as well.

So, go to work tomorrow with this new knowledge. Give it the acid test! Find out for yourself what can happen when you know how to help your boss'' behaviors.