THE PROJECT MANAGER AND LEADERSHIP
5.4 INTERACTIONS WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR
a loss, hoping (against hope) that all will be better in the future. In terms of project management, it may be relatable to not being willing to take a poor performer off the job, or moving on to a different product or customer even though you are not being successful with the ones at hand. Losses are hard to accept in many situations, but the project triumvirate needs to be able, at certain times, to take a loss and then move on. Perhaps you can think of project management situations you have been involved with in which such an approach would have been the correct one.
Bramson describes the hostile-aggressives as Sherman tanks, snipers, or ex- ploders. Such bosses are not likely to be sympathetic to the many problems that invariably arise on a project. Instead, they are prone to being actively abu- sive and to run over all people who are perceived to have caused the problem or who are not able to provide an instantaneous solution. Interactions with such a boss are enervating and leave one either exhausted or extremely angry.
Hostile-aggressives are very toxic people.
The complainers tend to find everything incomplete and inadequate and adopt the position that all would be well if only he or she had competent people on the job. The complainer can also be less negative about immediate subordinates, but focused instead on his or her boss and other people in the enterprise that are not cooperating and doing their jobs. This type of person prefers to be a victim and contaminates all who would listen with incessant complaining. In its most virulent form, the targets of the complaints are the subordinates.
The silent and unresponsive bosses appear to soak up inputs and requests for help but provide no feedback or assistance. In distinction to the hostile- aggressives, these people may be passive aggressives or they may be simply unable to keep up with the numerous issues and problems of project man- agement. Their own inadequacy may be reflected in their unresponsiveness because they may be fearful of appearing to be stupid or uninformed.
Super-agreeables are pleasant to a fault and avoid ruffling feathers and confronting difficult situations and people. They therefore refuse to deal with controversial issues for fear of making someone else angry or, indeed, coping with their own submerged anger. Because many project-oriented problems require straight talk and confrontation of problems, such bosses are likely to be of no help whatsoever. At best, they may be empathetic but will not engage in even a minor battle to move a project forward. As PMs, super-agreeables find it extremely difficult to carry out a complex negotiation with a customer or with superiors.
The know-it-all expert tends to undermine the work of all subordinates.
Either as PM or CSE, this type of boss frustrates subordinates by always having the “best” answer to a problem, whether it be administrative or tech- nical in nature. This behavior pattern often leads to a “clamming up” by subordinates because they perceive the boss as someone who is not able to listen to and elicit a variety of opinions and solutions. “Because the boss knows all the answers,” they reason, “let’s withhold our views and any con- structive thinking about the problem.” This, of course, can lead to disaster in terms of putting best efforts forward, which, in turn, leads to sabotaging a project.
The negativists cannot find something good in anything that is done on a project. They embody this negative attitude that causes subordinates to avoid interactions with them. They reflect the opposite of a can-do viewpoint and therefore can be deadly in dealing with customers as well as subordinates.
This type of behavior, of course, takes its toll on a project staff and inevitably
leads to loss of interest, productivity, and performance. Subordinates want to transfer to a different project as soon as possible.
Indecisive bosses are invariably frustrating because they cannot bring them- selves to a point of closure. By trying to keep all options open all the time, they fail to commit themselves and therefore fail to make progress. Such bosses are often fearful of making mistakes, which paralyzes them as well as the overall project. Projects run by such bosses tend to bog down and overrun schedule. They often also want to “study a problem to death,” leading to seri- ous diminishing returns and missing key milestones. Subordinates soon learn that they should make decisions themselves and ask for forgiveness rather than permission, if they have the wherewithall to do so.
If you have a boss that scores very low with respect to the attribute eval- uation of Table 5.1, or fits one of the seven types just discussed, you have a serious problem. If you are a PM, the success of your project is in some jeopardy. If you are a worker on a project, you are likely to be frustrated and be engaged in a project that almost certainly will fail. The question that presents itself then becomes: What can you do to more effectively “manage your boss” so as to minimize your frustration and anger and maximize the chances of your own personal success and the success of your project?
5.4.2 Managing Your Boss
Effective management of your boss requires an awareness of both how you tend to behave and an understanding of the patterns of your boss’s behavior.
Further, rather than insisting that your boss change behavior, you should change your behavior, which will have the effect of forcing your boss to deal with something new. This is likely to change the dynamic of what might be going on between both people. As an example, if you have been passive as a response to the wilting onslaught of a hostile-aggressive boss, you might try a more aggressive response. This change of behavior is likely to create a new dynamic that may lead to some changes in how your boss deals with you.
Remember, the only way to deal with a bully is to fight back.
A well-considered and rational analysis of the situation is a good first step in trying to manage your boss by changes in your own behavior. An ex- ample of how one might do that is shown in Table 5.3 in relation to the action–people–process–action paradigm previously discussed. This table shows various combinations of boss and subordinate types and calls for in- formation about how both types might complain about each other. Try filling in the blanks. This will help in trying to understand how you might view the situation both as a boss and as a subordinate.
Another perspective regarding the management of a boss can be found by a careful reading of Bramson’s book [5.7], particularly in relation to what to do about the seven bad bosses that he describes. His prescriptions for these extreme cases provide some valuable insight into new ways of behaving. They
TABLE 5.3 Predicting Boss-Subordinate Trouble Spots
List two complaints from:
Boss∗ Subordinates Boss Subordinate
A, PE PR, I 1. 1.
2. 2.
PR, I A, PE 1. 1.
2. 2.
PR, PE A, I 1. 1.
2. 2.
A, PR PE, I 1. 1.
2. 2.
A, I PR, PE 1. 1.
2. 2.
PE, I PR, A 1. 1.
2. 2.
∗A: action; PE: people; PR: process; and I: idea.
also implicitly reinforce the point that changes in your own behavior are the most effective ways of coping with a bad boss.
Finally, we list some more moderate actions that might be taken with a not very good but less than pathologic boss:
1. Keep all interactions on a formal basis.
2. Provide short but regular status reports on your activities.
3. Develop lists of items you think are important to accomplish and present these to your boss for agreement.
4. Demonstrate your capabilities with respect to r Your judgment
r Your creativity and competence r Your responsiveness and responsibility 5. Look for opportunities to build trust.
6. Do not confront in public situations.
7. Do not allow yourself to be victimized.
8. Speak to a trusted colleague who knows your boss to try to get another point of view.
9. Take your boss to lunch to explore better ways of interacting.
10. If these do not work, speak to your boss’s supervisor or the human resources people in your organization.
In all cases, try not to resign yourself to living with a seriously bad boss. Life is too short to not try to fix the problem.