What I Did When Working for Not-So-Great Bosses

Throughout my career, I've worked from some great bosses, some average bosses and some not-so-great (IMHO) bosses. To me, the not-so-great bosses were difficult to work with, didn't understand the project I was working, or were focused only on their own career progression. Here are some strategies I've used for working with the not-so-great ones.

Lived with it. In many large companies, a person will only be your boss for a few years or less. Either the boss or I moved to a new project after that time. During that time, I would learn to work with the person and take the effort to understand how they became my boss.

Influenced the work direction. Sometimes I could manage the situation by proposing changes to the project direction, in the interest of increasing the probability of success. After all, most bosses were just as interested in a successful project as I was. A key factor was to integrate both my boss's and my perspective into the new proposal.

Moved on. In some cases, it was time to move on to a new project, new organization or new company. My company was large enough to allow getting a new project or finding a new organization as an option. Thus, I never had to move to a different company.

For small companies, I expect the strategies would be different since there are fewer people, which would lead to fewer organizations, fewer projects and fewer bosses. Based on my limited experience doing part time work for small companies, I would guess that "moving on" may be a primarily strategy to solve working for a not-so-great boss.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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