10 ways to manage Difficult Bosses

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Getting that dream job wasn’t an easy task and now you can’t wait to quit, all thanks to your boss, who succeeded in making your job difficult to fulfill. In a make believe world, we all love to have wonderful bosses that will assist us in being successful , make us feel indispensable and simply make our lives very easy at work. As reality will have it, that has not been the case for some of us, who are ready to write a 200 paged book on the ill ways our bosses have treated and related to us.   There is nothing more psychologically depressing in the workplace than a difficult boss. Most employees have had several bosses throughout their working experiences, some of these bosses were competent, kind, and encouraged them all the time. Also there are bosses who made their lives similar to doing hard times in jail. They might have micromanaged, screamed or flung things at them.   However to be on a positive side, there is no problem without a solution hidden somewhere. We love ensuring your work life is comfortable and flows in a tolerable way, so we present to you 10 easy ways to manage difficult bosses. Read closely, and find one or two ways that you can use to make your life more convenient (with your boss around) at work. For those of us that are stuck with difficult bosses,   it’s now time to make a smart move, by managing your bosses without them knowing they are being managed.

  • The first step to take when dealing with a difficult boss is to be sure that your boss is actually difficult and is intentionally making life hard for you. Sometimes you as an employee could be the difficult one and not your boss. Hence before you start strategizing on how to manage your difficult boss, ensure that your boss is truly difficult and you are the victim, not the other way round.
  • Take out time to observe your boss carefully for some days and notice the things he/she does well vis-à-vis those done poorly. Whenever your boss does something bad, try coming up with a forgiving and acceptable reason why your boss did that to you. When your boss shouts at you, you may think its personal, but that may not be the case, this time try to listen, provide quick results and move on to the next task. It’s best to deal with every encounter with your boss professionally and not to take it personal.
  • When you are at work, focus more on your job for the day than watching out for the bad and good things your boss is doing and not doing. If you continue to do this at work, you’ll become more depressed, lose interest in your job and finally your performance level starts going down. All these happens to you because you are so engross in how bad your boss is, instead of channeling your mental strength towards performing better at work and matching the level of competence your boss wants to see from you in various activities at work. Hence today start focusing on how well you can improve yourself, perform better and be one of the best at work.
  • Make your working style suite that of your boss, if you want to survive your days at work without having a mental breakdown. Study your boss’s style of working, is he or she too fast or slow? Or like doing things their way? There is no problem, they are the boss! So all you need to do is to work according to their pace, for them to accept you and feel more comfortable with you.
  • Keep your complains to yourself, don’t go around complaining about your work because there could be a little bird somewhere telling your boss all that you said. It’s very important to mind your work and keep to yourself, going about complaining could contribute to your boss’s mean attitude towards you or worse you could lose your job. It’s best to regulate what comes out of your mouth at work.
  • Be direct and hit the nail on the head, don’t mince words or make randy statements before you say what you really want to say. Be straight forward and talk with confidence, mincing words will only make your boss regard you as incompetent and not too bright. Next time at work instead of asking your boss questions like can I have a moment? Or are you free? (sometimes question like this are irritating to busy people) briefly ask what you want to ask and get it over with.
  • Accommodate your boss’s character, that’s the only way you can survive at work, except if you want to quit. If you have a disorganized boss, instead of nagging about how disorganized your boss is, assist him/her in being on top of their affairs. By doing this you’re giving your boss necessary support and you will be rewarded for it.
  • Always examine yourself, most people think they do this but not well enough. Like I said earlier, the fault might just be from you. Try engaging in regular self examination to figure out what you’re doing right or wrong.
  • Keep a good and positive attitude all the time, it’s not the end of the world, you should not have it written all over your face and the way you act, that you are being mistreated by your boss. If you keep that face, you’ll encourage your boss to be more difficult. Always have a neutral attitude and a happy face, maybe your boss will get tired of picking on you and starts being nice.
  • No one wishes to have a difficult boss but if it’s possible, try your best and avoid having a difficult boss in future. When applying for a job, research about the company in advance, to know what you’re getting yourself into. You can have a friendly chat with some of the staffs, with the hidden purpose of getting more information about the company and the people who run it.

In general it’s not going to be easy like it’s been written, but for the main time, it’s not a bad idea to try out new ways to make your life less miserable at work and managing up with your difficult boss, until you get a better job where you might evens find a more difficult boss.     photo credit; drlisabarrow.ca

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