Just last month at a training where I was facilitating, a participant asked me a question that seemed to have been a burden for quite some time. The questioner was young and I could sense the frustration in his voice.
“…Nothing I do is ever enough for my boss. I have tried and it seems she’s just too difficult to work with. How do you manage working for someone like that?”
In spite of his evident stress, I didn’t proceed to proffer an answer to his question, I decided instead to ask him a couple of simple yet pointed questions:
1. Do you believe that your boss’ behavior is targeted at you or is this a general disposition across other team members?
2. Do you imagine that your boss’ behavior is directed not just to you but also to herself?
He couldn’t answer any of my questions categorically perhaps he hadn’t been quite observant?
I believe that finding answers to these simple questions will be vital to understanding what it is that is ‘wrong’ with this young man’s manager. The attendant results to these findings would be most rewarding. I will discuss these in a bit.
You see, certain kinds of misunderstandings needn’t happen at all in the workplace – but they do.
Personality based conflicts are real and can fester if feuding parties have no idea how to tackle same.
When the young man described his boss, the picture of a person with a ‘High C’ behavioral style came to my mind. Could his boss’ behavioral style be the culprit here?
Persons with ‘High C’ [According to D.I.S.C Behavioral Model], are CRITICAL not just of others but especially of themselves. In that sense, all efforts by their team is never good enough. Their quest for perfection means all ‘I’s have to be dotted and all ‘T’s’ have to be crossed.
To an ‘untrained eye’ such a person is difficult and cannot be pleased but nothing can be farther from the truth.
If my dear young man is able to get to the ‘bottom of the behavioral matter,’ he can finally rest easy and know that his boss’ behavior has nothing to do with witch hunting and that he need not take it personal.
As difficult as it is sometimes to work with someone with a ‘High C’ style, these set of individuals bring a great deal of value to the table where organizational management and success is concerned.
They display an impeccable eye for detail which enable organizations stretch and deliver premium quality where their value proposition is concerned. A ‘High C’ style will bend backward for an organization whose cause they believe in and they would rather not be on your team than stay in and not be opportune or given a chance to do a thorough job.
Like I said earlier and for this my young friend, the benefits of gaining understanding of the behavioral style for this boss would be worth the effort. He would amongst other things be able to:
1. Have his peace back, easing out feelings of frustration, resentment or debilitating fear as the case may be where interactions with his boss his concerned.
2. Modify his own behavior in dealings with his boss by getting to ask the right questions and gaining understanding – and delivering on the particular expectations of his manager.
3. Increase his productivity to significant levels [especially in the eyes of his boss] and could perhaps earn him a much needed advancement within the business.
All the best to you my dear friend!
Comments
Post a Comment