Professionalism: How to manage your superiors
2013-10-31
This week, when the leaders called for a talk, they talked about superior management. I feel that I didn't pay much attention to this issue before, and I believe many people are just like me. Organize this article and hope to improve it slowly.
1. Why do we need superior management?
1. The work of the superior is directly related to your work;
Usually, the work of subordinates is separated from the work of superiors. The work style and work habits of your superiors will directly affect your work style and work habits. If you do not learn to manage your superiors, friction and collision will often occur, which directly determines whether your work is effective.
2. The effectiveness of subordinates' work is largely determined by superiors;
Your work is usually assigned by superiors, guidance and inspections by superiors, and the superiors and superiors get along day and night. Therefore, when your work needs to be evaluated, you will often first ask your superiors for their views, and use his evaluation as the main reference.
3. The interests of subordinates and superiors are tied together;
The relationship between superiors and superiors can be vividly compared to the subordinates being the superior agents, and the superiors are the subordinate manufacturers. The manufacturer's product quality, supply capacity, product price and brand influence directly affect the performance of the agent. Only a promising superior can lead a subordinate to succeed. After a failed superior leaves his post, the company will arrange people from outside instead of promoting someone from the original team. Because failed generals often fail to bring out successful soldiers. Therefore, the superior and the subordinate are both prosperous and ruined.
If there is no effective upper-level management, the following common problems of the superior-subordinate relationship are likely to occur:
- Little communication, false communication, mutual suspicion, mutual dissatisfaction
- Waiting for superior management (communication)
- "Kidnapping, double-regulated superiors"
- Work hard or fool the superior
- Try to prove the superior is wrong
2. How to manage your superiors
1. Help your superiors make decisions
Many people think that subordinates only provide suggestions and questions, and that decision-making things need to be done by superiors. In fact, your superior may not only be your subordinate, he has to deal with a lot of daily affairs every day, and there will be many unexpected problems, and he also has a superior. If you only send a proposal without a solution, most of them will be rejected on the pretext of lack of persuasiveness, too high a risk, bad timing, no time to consider at present, and misalignment with the development of the enterprise. If you don't want to be dismissed easily, you must simply help him first.
- Explicitly tell your superiors, what do you want him to do with the large amount of material proposal you submitted? It is a joint decision or need to be handled by the superior; it is an urgent matter or waits for the superior to have time to deal with it; it is necessary to add a certain index or require reassessment; point out which items require the assistance of your superior, and briefly state your requirements And opinions.
- Use charts and images to get your superiors into the state quickly, and provide facts and information for assessment of possible controversial issues.
- Outline the rationale for your proposal. Explain what was discussed last time? What is the goal? And what new problems have been caused because this problem has not been solved well in the past.
- When discussing with superiors, record their opinions in writing. Regardless of what you think, don't criticize your superiors publicly.
You have virtually helped your superiors make decisions. Your superiors can be like a point-and-shoot camera user. As long as he thinks it is appropriate, he can get the ideal image at the push of a button.
In addition, you need to understand that your superior does not have as much time as you. When you have a problem, you must grasp the focus of the problem. The clearer the problem, the shorter the time the superior spends on the problem, the faster the problem can be solved. If you give a thick pile of statistical data or other materials to your superiors even if you are on a errand, the result will easily lead to denial, rejection or shelving. The superiors do not have so much time to analyze these data. The information you provide must be analyzed, screened, and classified by yourself or by relevant authority figures, highlighting key points and key information, and triggering conclusions.
2. Disturb your superiors as little as possible
You should boldly do some things that are within your authority. Some people think that asking your superiors for instructions is to respect your superiors, so as to get closer to your superiors, but the effect is often the opposite. Such behavior will over time make the superiors behave on you. Irritability. Everything is up to your superiors to make or decide. What good is it for you to be in this position?
In addition, you need to pay attention to timing, and never ask for instructions when your superiors are busy or in a bad mood. For example: Monday morning and weekends close to get off work time, the beginning of the month and the end of the month, when returning from a business trip or vacation, when you are furious...
The superiors are also human, so the superiors also need a sense of security. No matter it is for any reason, there is no reason, never let the superiors be surprised.
- The thing (the work that the subordinates messed up) hasn't happened yet, but it's about to happen, then let him be the first person to know;
- The incident has already happened. At that time, there were already onlookers, and it was too late to report to the superior, so don't let him be the last person to know.
3. Don't make promises beyond your capacity
Mutual trust is cultivated by facts, actions and time. If your superiors often make changes from time to time, you may not trust him completely, and vice versa. When discussing issues with your superiors, you should leave room for it. Don’t promise to complete the deadline for cases that you cannot handle. Prior to the implementation of the plan, prioritization should be fully discussed with superiors and risk assessment should be conducted to prevent unexpected situations.
4. Grasp the thinking tendency of superiors
To understand your boss and his environment, including his work goals, pressures, personal strengths, weaknesses and blind spots, and preferred working methods; secondly, evaluate yourself and your needs, including your personality strengths, weaknesses, and personal working styles. The degree of dependence on authoritative tasks; Finally, it is necessary to develop and maintain a relationship that suits the needs and styles of the above and can reflect common expectations, and establish a trustworthy and honest relationship with the superior. The differences in personality (values and behavior patterns) of each person have an impact on team leadership and communication. Generally reflected in the following four different personality traits
- Like things to control, pay attention to combing;
- Be interested in "people" and pay attention to their influence;
- Activist, focusing on the start time and the goal achieved, emphasizing the concept;
- Have a tendency towards people's thinking and ideas.
A correct grasp of the superior's thinking tendencies can achieve better results. Consider the problem from the perspective of the superior, so that your suggestions and propositions will be recognized, and will be appreciated and valued by the superior.
Also ask yourself through the following questions:
- Are you anxious to what your superiors are anxious?
- What value did I create for my superiors?
- Does your superior trust you? why?
- Does your superior know your job goal? Do the superiors believe it?
- Does the superior know where you need his help?
- Did you involve your superiors in your decision-making process?
- Can it give the superiors hope and confidence?
- Is it proving that the superior is right?
At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to and avoid: do not ask for too much from superiors and do not expect too much from superiors.
3. Common problems in the process of managing superiors
1. How to "manage" superiors when disagreements arise?
In the company, there will be more or less differences of opinion between the superior and the superior. Sometimes it may be that the subordinates do not understand the macroscopic ideas of the superiors, or the superiors have insufficient professional knowledge and made wrong judgments. If you blindly "prefer not to bend" and "adhere to the truth", it is likely to create a gap between both sides. The solution is to find opportunities to chat with superiors and talk about your own ideas lightly. Use roundabout strategies to influence superiors.
2. How to "manage" superiors when you are wronged?
Suffering grievances can also be encountered in professional work. If the mistakes of repeated mention and entanglement with superiors are used, they may sometimes be counterproductive. As a subordinate, you need to assume that it is difficult for your superiors to admit their mistakes directly or indirectly. Sometimes when you suffer a grievance, you need to pay attention not to let the superior Ye suffer the grievance. What you need to do is try to help the superior to make up for the mistake. Let the superiors feel the same goal.
3. How to "manage" superiors when making merits?
Many subordinates have tested the value they created, but often overlooked the correct authorization and secret support of the superior. Attributing achievements to the leadership is not just a rhetoric or mandarin, but should be from the heart, gratitude and recognition to the superior. Personal ability and hard work are necessary conditions for achieving performance, but they are by no means sufficient. When making achievements, don't forget to ignore the help from superiors, let alone take credit for it.
To make your superiors depend on you, you need not only to enrich your professional knowledge and skills; to enhance your ability to repay your superiors; to expand your external network; to enhance the execution of your own work; and to learn to owe the honor to yours Boss, because your chances of getting results are given to you by your superiors.
In the professional arena of rights and responsibilities, the superior is a veritable "leading actor"; the superior must have superhuman wisdom in overall judgment and strategy, and he has capital. Subordinate professionals should establish a stage jointly owned by their superiors, play down their own "starring" complex, and be willing to be "starring 2 and 3". The professional mentality of subordinates must be patient, understanding and tolerant and adapt to your superiors; to be a person who is neither dangerous but also has a positive effect: capable and indifferent; seize opportunities to continuously improve one's worth.
4. How to "manage" superiors when encountering suspicion?
As a subordinate, it is very dangerous to show a strong state in front of a strong superior. It is easy to find the suspicion of the superior without being reused or promoted. The word loyalty is easier said than done. First of all, we must regard him as the ultimate object of requesting instructions or ultimate reporting object. This means that you should not ignore the existence of your superiors, and you cannot easily report or ask for instructions, especially if you report or ask for instructions to your superior without the knowledge of your immediate superior, he will think that you have betrayed him. It is true that if the matter is urgent and he is not present, it is another matter. Even so, you must make up the report in time after the report is completed, and you must not bury the shadow of endless troubles for the secret joy that can happen for a while.