Influencing Your Boss

Building a better working relationship with your boss can unlock a variety of future possibilities, from promotion to easier interactions and bigger bonuses. In some cases, your chances for future advancement may be improved by helping the boss become more effective with his or her higher-ups. By gaining influence with your boss, you can build a relationship and create benefits for you both. Too many managers and leaders make poor bosses, and the good ones could be even better. What may come as a surprise, however, is how much your boss’s effectiveness relies on you. It’s part of your job to make the boss a better manager.

This excerpt from the second edition of Influence Without Authority by leadership gurus Allan Cohen and David Bradford highlights several principles from the book that show how you can successfully overcome a variety of common workplace problems and build a more mutually beneficial relationship with the boss. Concrete examples drawn from real-world situations provide a blueprint for creating a partnership with the boss and building a foundation for success. By casting yourself as a junior partner, you can connect with a boss that won’t listen, remains distant or seems unfriendly. Partnering also offers a way to effectively deal with a boss who doesn’t do his or her job well enough, who is overly helpful or simply preoccupied. And it makes disagreements more manageable too. Even tyrants can be influenced by a worthy but dissenting partner.

See full Article.