How to Handle an Uninformed but Nervous Boss

By R. David Silva

In marketing yourself to a boss who know little or nothing about how to do your job and is worried about how you do your job, you have two tasks.  First you need to address lack of knowledge and the second task is installing trust / build up confidence Both are related and if you are an effective teacher, you will accomplish trust building. 

As mentioned in the previous article, your goal is to have your boss be an advocate for you and your ability to contribute to the firm. In order to have your boss achieve this level of commitment to your career, you need to develop an effective strategy for handling your boss.  

Have patience and explain all major and many minor aspects of your job.  Why as well as how you perform your functions can be communicated in face-to-face meeting, supplemented by memos and emails.  It is helpful for this type of boss to be told of several options for doing the assigned tasks.  This will reduce apprehension over missing an approach and can bolster the rationale for what you propose to do.  It is important to have a well thought out action plan and to stick to your conclusions as long as possible. (If the boss won’t listen, you can’t buy him or her a hearing aid; so don’t yell.) You need to think of yourself as a teacher.

Over time your boss will build up confidence in your abilities and will become more comfortable with letting you handle your responsibilities with less and less oversight.  Bear in mind that once your  boss has learned about how you handle various situations, you should continue a high level of communication until the boss tells you to spend less time “educating” him or her.

This is the last in the series of dealing with bosses.  If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at  silva@4fashionadvice.com.

 

R. David Silva
Business Editor

25+ years experience
in the world of business/marketing.