The harsh reality is,
is if you don't improve your working relationship with your boss,
if they don't like you - you need to fix it.
If you're dealing with a boss who doesn't like you, an incompetent boss,
or a boss that you don't like,
you need to stay tuned for seven tips to improve your relationship with your
boss. Hello and welcome back to my channel,
where I help you slay your career and cultivate the
successful life that you deserve. For the best career advancement advice,
make sure you click the subscribe button plus the notification bell.
I release a new video every Tuesday ,and I know you don't want to miss it. Now,
this video actually comes from a subscriber question
that I received about her dealing with a nightmare boss.
And I know when you're thinking, my boss doesn't like me,
my boss doesn't listen to me.
Or you're dealing with maybe a boss that you don't like.
This is incredibly difficult,
because if you don't have a productive relationship with your manager,
it is going to have an impact on your career success opportunities.
So in today's video, I have seven strategies
on what to do if your boss doesn't like you.
If you're ready to find out what those strategies are,
click that like button and let's jump right into it. So first things first,
your focus and your attention needs to be on
building a productive relationship with their boss. Look,
your boss doesn't actually need to like you. You don't need to like them.
You do not need to be best friends with your boss in any form. However,
you do need to have a productive relationship with your manager,
especially if you want your boss to support you in getting
ahead and advancing your career.
Or even to just not slam you when it comes time to performance reviews.
If you don't have a productive relationship with your boss,
it actually doesn't hurt them in any way, shape or form.
The only person that is going to be negatively impacted
by your lack of a productive relationship is going to be you.
You don't want that, and I don't want that for you.
Focus on things that improve your working relationship.
Reframing the expectations so from having a good relationship
or being friendly with your manager to actually just
fostering a productive relationship is something that
helps a lot of the people that I work with.
Because when you have an outcome based relationship
with your manager in terms of you, them, your team and your company,
that is actually going to help you put up results that are actually undeniable.
So even if you aren't your boss's favorite person,
they're still not going to be able to deny the fact that
you're really good at what you do.
And hopefully it's going to compel them to give you opportunities to move ahead.
The second strategy is to make sure that you are not the problem.
I know this one is going to sound a little bit harsh,
but when you don't have a positive relationship with
your boss or when your boss doesn't like you,
it is an opportunity for you to look into the mirror
and see if there is anything that you have done.
I'm not saying just because you are boss doesn't like you,
that you're not a good person or that you've done something wrong.
Because in many cases it's just matter of two people
who don't really rub each other the right way. However,
I do encourage you to be really real with yourself,
and to look at what you've brought to the table
and in your interactions with your manager
to see if there is anything that has made you maybe not be their favorite
person.
One of the things that I see most frequently is where ambitious professionals
are bringing a lot of problems to their boss,
but they're not actually bringing any solutions.
And what they're doing typically without any intention of doing so,
is dumping a lot of problems onto their boss's work plate.
And making their own problems their boss's problem to deal with.
Even worse is when those same people go,
and complain to their boss about the lack of resolution.
on the problem that they decided to shine a light on. Ask yourself,
are you bringing your boss problems? Are you bringing them solutions?
Are you helping to build a positive work environment? On your team,
are you unnecessarily complaining.
You would be missing a huge potential growth opportunity if.
you didn't take a moment to self reflect on your own behavior,
and your own conduct,
to figure out if there is something that you are doing to actually create the
problem.
Or getting yourself further away from having a good relationship with your boss.
Is it possible that you are not doing anything wrong,
and you are completely free of any liability
in the fact that your boss doesn't like you? Yes, that is entirely possible.
There could be a million reasons that have nothing to do with you
that are the reasons why your boss doesn't like you.
Maybe your boss is jealous of you. Maybe your boss feels threatened.
Maybe your boss doesn't know how awesome you are,
because they haven't gotten to know you well enough.
This isn't where you should be beating yourself up.
It's where you should be taking a look,
and seeing if there is anything that you can do
within your scope of control that is going to help improve the situation.
And that leads me into the third strategy.
Stop bringing your boss problems.
This is one of the biggest mistakes that I see
ambitious professionals make because they're good at what you do.
It's easy for you to spot the gap and to bring it forward.
You're airing your concerns. That's what you're supposed to do, right?
The problem is is when you're constantly bringing forward
problems and you're not actually doing anything about them yourself,
you're essentially just laying that onto the.
growing heap of things that your boss needs to do. Now,
I want you to ask yourself if that's something
that's going to help the relationship,
or if that's something that's going to make your boss maybe not like you?
The great news is, if this is a mistake that you've made,
it's a very easy one to course correct on. Instead of bringing problems,
bring forward solutions to the problem.
Don't wait for work to be assigned to you in terms
of bringing that solution forward. Just fill the gap.
The issue with bringing a lot of problems forward,
and not bringing any solutions forward,
is you are actually adding to the amount of work that your boss needs to do,
but you're not taking any accountability as a team member
in order to actually bring any solutions forward.
The great news is,
is if smart enough to spot the problem,
you also probably have some ideas that you can at least
share with your boss in order to solve those problems.
Or better yet you can bring in strategy for which is to be proactive,
especially when there is an issue that needs to be dealt with.
Or there is something that you know that your boss
maybe doesn't have time to deal with.
Being proactive and taking the initiative to solve the problem,
or do the thing,
is something that is going to have a dramatic impact on your relationship with
your boss. Not only does this give you the opportunity to demonstrate
that you're ready for more complex work and more responsibility.
It's also taking work off of your boss's plate.
And I know a lot of people have a preconceived notion
that their manager isn't really doing a lot.
Because they don't necessarily see their manager doing a lot of work,
but you need to remember that your manager's main job
is probably actually managing people,
and that there's a lot of things that go on behind the scenes that you're not
aware of.
Being proactive is going to make their life easier.
It's going to give them less headaches,
and it is by default going to improve your
working relationship even if your boss doesn't like you.
The great thing about being proactive,
about solving problems is even if your boss absolutely despises your guts,
they won't be able to deny the impact that you made on your team or on your
company. I call these undeniable results.
When you're generating impact for the company,
your boss is going to want to demonstrate how they're aligned with you.
This is going to foster a more positive relationship
and it's also going to help them go to bat for you,
even when you're not their favorite person.
And I know that you're probably thinking, 'Jennifer,
how could I possibly do that?'.
And the way that you do that is actually through strategy five,
which is knowing exactly what your boss's priorities are.
This is actually draws from knowing what your company is really trying to do.
The more that you know what your company's objectives
are and what's really important to your manager,
the better you're going to be able to focus on the impact areas.
that are really important to your boss.
This is going to allow you to make an impact that your boss
is not going to be able to help but notice,
even if they don't have a high level of interaction with you. And again,
it's going to demonstrate that you're proactive and solution focused.
And that you are committed to helping your
boss tackle the biggest business issues that they have on their plate.
If you don't know your bosses priorities,
do the legwork in order to figure out what they actually are.
Because if you don't know what's important to your boss,
you are not going to be able to make strategic decisions about where
you should focus your energy and effort
in order to improve your working relationship with your boss.
Now for bonus points,
this is also going to incorporate strategies six,
which is making North boss look good. I know that this one can be a struggle,
especially if you have a boss that's incompetent or a boss that you don't really
like. So it's you know, a two sided situation here. However,
the thing is the better that you actually make your boss look,
the better you actually look in return. We are all ego-driven beings,
and we all just want to look good. And when someone makes you a look good,
it actually makes you feel better about them.
So even if your boss hates you,
you are doing something that makes them look good,
is actually automatically going to improve their perception of you.
And the better their perception is of you,
the more productive your working relationship is going to be. Plus,
especially when there is a situation where there
is a mutual dislike between you and your manager,
the fact that you're demonstrating your commitment
to having a productive relationship and making them look good,
is going to be something that they're not going to forget.
And they are going to be more likely to pay forward in kind.
This does not mean that you need to suck up to your incompetent manager.
I am one of the people who is the most against brown-nosing. However,
if we add a human level, could make someone else look good,
feel more appreciated, or just have a really good day.
Not only is it going to help them, it is going to help us,
and even if it doesn't circle around for that particular boss,
know that you are generating how to have a lot of great karma
that is going to pay off further down in your career.
Strategy seven is knowing that not every boss
that you have is going to be great,
but they're each serving a purpose in your career growth over the course of your
career. You're going to work with exceptional leaders.
You're gonna work with terrible bosses.
And you're going to work with everyone in between.
And it's not always going to be as easy,
and it isn't always as going to be as meaningful when you do have a bad boss,
but each person that you work with and for over
the course of your career is actually presenting you with an opportunity to
grow.
The more that you're able to dig in,
especially when you have a boss that you don't like,
or a boss that doesn't like you,
and figure out what the learning opportunity is,
the better potential for longterm success you're going to have. And in fact,
this is something that can be very helpful
if you're trying to figure out how to make your boss like you
or how to work with a boss that doesn't like you.
Because when you see that obstacle as an opportunity for you to grow,
you're going to be very keen to all of the lessons
and takeaways that you're going to be able to get from that person.
And trust me. Even when you have a manager who you think is total garbage,
there is going to be learning takeaways.
One of the worst managers that I ever had in my career
is someone that I actually learned in ton of practical advice and earned a lot
of wisdom from.
So even when you have a manager who doesn't like you,
make sure that you're finding the ways that you can learn from them
to turn you into a better person, and a better leader in the future.
Because when you find an incorporate those lessons,
you are going to automatically increase your chances
of advancing your career and achieving all of the career goals that you have for
yourself. I'd love to know,
have you worked with a boss that you didn't particularly like in the past,
but you learned something from?
Let me know what that takeaway was in the comments down below. And Hey,
while you're down there, if you enjoy this, click the like button. You know,
YouTube algorithm helps my channel. Lets me know to make more videos like this.
Now there's one bonus tip that I want to include,
and this is actually a really important one,
so hopefully you've stayed all the way through so
that you get this one because I do think it's the most important.
And that is knowing to differentiate between a bad boss and a toxic boss.
Because those are two very different obstacles.
A bad boss, an incompetent boss,
a boss who doesn't like you, is something that you can actually deal with.
That's always going to be a situation that you can turn around.
And ultimately it is someone who probably has good intentions,
and it's still going to help you in your career. However,
when you have a toxic manager,
this is someone that you really need to get away from as quickly as possible.
If you're not sure if your boss is toxic, what you need to know is the signs.
Go and check out this video right now. In the meantime,
be so proud of yourself for investing this time into your professional growth,
and into yourself and thank you so much for watching.
I'll see you in the next one. Bye for now.
[BLOOPERS] That light is flashing out.
I wonder if you could hear the dogs barking as much
as I can because it is driving me absolutely mad.