How You Shouldn’t Behave With the Boss

Why is it sometimes so difficult to find a way to your boss? The main difficulty is that we are all different. Someone gets annoyed when the employees are too initiative, and quite the reverse, someone just can’t stand passive employees who silently spend their allotted hours in the office. How not to become the reason for your boss’s irritation? How to choose the best model of behaviour, stop trembling and going pale while choosing words for a private talk? In spite of the fact that every person requires an individual approach, there are several universal rules, basic “nos” - things that you shouldn’t do even if you want to do them badly.

If you don’t plan to lose the job, you’d better refuse the habit of proving yourself right always and everywhere. Of course, a wise boss doesn’t consider his or her own opinion to be the only true one and takes employees’ advice into consideration. However, not every boss takes criticism gratefully. Before entering heated debates, think: is it worth it? Should you announce proudly that you totally disagree with the boss’s point of view when your career and salary are at stake? Respect your employer’s opinion and remember: sometimes silence is golden. Keeping your opinion to yourself doesn’t mean being defeated.

Private life is all that happens out of your workplace in your free time. It’s better not to let your boss know all the details of your spare time - hardly is he or she interested in how many many times a day you feed your cat, where it is cheaper to buy the washing powder and why you quarrelled with your friend yesterday. Leave your emotional problems to your friends and close ones - being excessively frank has never done any good to anyone.

You can be “on the same page” with your boss but it is important to keep the distance in mind. The boss is always the boss. When an employee is openly trying to become the boss’s friend, and blatantly nods to every his or her word, such a behaviour is unwittingly perceived as hypocrisy and seeking for own advantage. Keep a reasonable balance in communication: friendship should not erase borders between business and personal relations.

Everyone has troubles from time to time: things don’t go as planned, something doesn’t happen on the first go. However, this is not the reason to take up the role of a victim. Prolonged melancholy decreases your productivity and therefore affects negatively your general performance and the wellbeing of the company. An employee must not make the boss willing to take care of him or her, so you shouldn’t be discouraged by the first fail and complain about adversities of life with tears in your eyes. If you are not skilled enough to do a certain task - then that’s in your hands. Only those achieve success who go forward to their goal and overcome their own fears, doubts and lack of self-confidence. Study, gain new skills, read books, communicate with successful people - and over time you will see that the emerging difficulties are not so great, as they seem at first.

Making a mistake is not bad. It’s bad not to take the responsibility for it. Shifting the blame for your own fails on to somebody else, you don’t elevate yourself, quite the reverse, spoil your reputation and lose the confidence of your colleagues and your boss. You shouldn’t be afraid of mistakes - everyone has made them. It is important to take what’s happened for granted, make right conclusions, correct your mistakes and avoid such fails in future.

The quickest way to make your boss angry is to be late regularly. There seems to be nothing easier than to set your alarm clock 20 minutes earlier and to come in time. Yet, alas, we have to face clients, contractors, and business partners coming late every day. Time is the most precious of all the resources and not to treasure it in the modern daily rush is a pure crime. Do not wait until your unpunctuality fails a good deal. Master time management and plan your time at least a day ahead.

You cannot make the first impression twice. Look at yourself in the mirror and try to assess your reflection objectively. Would you sign a billion-dollar contract with the person you see? No doubt, personal qualities, attitudes, rich inner world, education, work experience are the criteria according to which one should assess the professional. But who would deal with a person in old-fashioned crumpled clothes, dirty shoes, with unkempt hair and unwashed face? It’s no problem if you are far from the latest fashion trends: you will surely find lots of ideas for creating your own image on the Internet or on the pages of fashion magazines. However, be careful: you shouldn’t try every stylish look blindly. Be sure to take peculiarities of your figure and height into consideration: your task is to hide imperfections and emphasize your advantages. If you are afraid of looking stupid, choose classics or go to a professional stylist and image-maker. He or she will help you to choose several outfits which can be mixed up and which will make you look modern and stylish. It should be noted that the brand of your clothes is not so important as the neatness of your look in general. Women also shouldn’t forget about hairstyle, manicure and light make-up.

The ability to engage in constructive dialogue is a greatly useful skill which is necessary both for professionals and young employees who are only starting their career. Even if you don't set a goal to make the boss like you, it is easy to keep a pleasant atmosphere in the office: you should do your work properly and keep neutral when a conflict arises. Remember: your boss is a live person. He or she can be tired, depressed or look for solutions for a million of problems just like you. If you are interested in the long-term cooperation, respect your boss’s opinion, keep calm, have patience and work for the benefit of the company.