Posts Tagged ‘difficult bosses’

Would You Like to Fire Your Boss?

Friday, July 16th, 2010

You would? Well, you’re in good company. According to a survey conducted by BadBossology.com , nearly half of you would give your supervisor a pink slip, given the chance. Of the remaining bosses, 29% would be sent to a psychologist for some kind of assessment, and the rest would be given mandatory management training. It seems that the only thing that’s keeping them in work is the pleasure of those who hired them.

I can hear your thoughts. You’re thinking to yourself  that you’d love to fire your boss, but that you’re only able to do so in your dreams. We’ll, hang in there. Your opportunity will come, and when it does, you want to be ready.

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 11:  Wall Street job seeke...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

So, how can you prepare to fire your boss? It’s a new world of work, so merely updating your resume and trolling through the “help wanted” ads isn’t going to do much for you. If you rely on that method, you could be simply jumping from the frying pan into the fire because you’re hoping to find a better situation using out-dated methods.

You must begin by thinking like your boss and your company. What do they value about you? Do you consistently contribute more value than it costs them to keep you, or can anybody do what you do? If  what you do is anything less than priceless, then you’re first step is decide how you can become invaluable in your next position. No one said it would be easy.

It used to be that if you were indispensable, you couldn’t get promoted. Today, your value is bound up in your ability to be irreplaceable. Don’t underestimate the importance of what I’m saying.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing this in much greater detail in a free ebook. Only subscribers to Two Sides of the Same Coin will get it. If you want to obtain this valuable information, then go to http://www.p-advantage.com/Newsletter.php and sign-up today.

Bruce Hoag, PhD, CPsychol
Work Psychologist

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Are You Part of the Problem, or Part of the Solution?

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Let me ask you something. In business, who’s the enemy? . . . I’ll give you a hint. It’s not those who work for you, those who work with you, or those you work for. . . .

In this gameshow, your time’s up. Who’s the enemy? If there is one, it’s your competitor. That being the case, why do so many companies treat those who work for them as if they’re on different sides? Why do managers think that their employees are the enemies?

I’ll give you an example. I know of a company (who will remain nameless on this occasion) who believes that it needs to change the way it does business in order to remain competitive. But, it also believes that the one thing that’s holding it back is its employees.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “It’s true. I’ve got the same problem!”

Perhaps; but, I also happen to know that a bright spark at this company went to the powers that be and said something like, “You’re absolutely right. There are people who are holding you back. But, what about those of us who want to help you change the company? How can we help you to do that?”

Guess what the answer was. “I don’t know.”

You see, it’s a lot easier to point the finger away from ourselves than it is to admit we may be part of the problem. If all of the employees are categorized as “the problem,” then managers are free to identify themselves as “the solution.”

When their bluff is called, however, and employees say, “I want to be part of the solution,” then it makes at least some of the managers part of the problem.

Which are you? Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?