

80% of us hate our boss:  what to do - glhoffman
http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2008/07/01/i-forgot-one-thing-over-at-todays-us-news/

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ojbyrne
As someone who's about to start a job as a "boss", I'm going to take "Even if
we went to business school, that was two years spent, long-long ago." to
heart. Wishing for an article like "80% of your employees hate you: what to
do"

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DenisM
Management is a social activity, so you will have to embrace social
interaction. Rule #1 is to actively encourage feedback. The difficult part is
not getting upset but acting on opportunity when you are told where you
screwed up. You'll get over it. It will take some time (6-12 months) before
people will be comfortable with telling you what they think, and they will
start with small things. Make sure to follow up on these by either addressing
or making it obvious that feedback was given serious consideration. Everybody
likes beign listened to. Be prepared for the first 6-12 months beign very
awkward. It's ok.

One trick I learned from my boss is to ask people two questions: "how could we
make this better?" and "how could we make this worse?". It's important to ask
both questions as this creates proper frame around conversation. It also
avoids the whole conversation beign 100% "negative".

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DenisM
I'm in 20%. At the day job my boss is great as are two guys higher up (not
sure about #4 and above - too hard to reach those). They are not without their
issues but they are listening to feedback and keep improving. I usually fill
detailed feedback for them each year and follow up in person (for the first
two guys in the chain of command) to make sure the message was read right.
This year I found very little to criticize them for, which is quite unusual
for a crank like me.

In the past I had couple of so-so managers at the same place and our
collective feedback saw them managed out of their roles back to what they were
good at. But this is the product of workplace where feedback is being listened
to, if you don't work in a place like this your options maybe limited.

If you want to change the place where you work and your boss (not leave but
make it different), I recommend "The Possibilities of Organization" book

[http://www.amazon.com/Possibilities-Organization-Barry-
Oshry...](http://www.amazon.com/Possibilities-Organization-Barry-
Oshry/dp/0910411107)

it will help you inderstand what's going on in the heads of your managers and
why they act like they do. I was thoroughly moved by this book.

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sunshinegroopie
Fire him!!

