5 Things Your Boss Wishes You Knew About Their Job

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• November 5, 2014
• By Linda Coussement
• 2 Comments

Is your boss a sociopath? You know, the type of person who constantly lies, cheats and thinks only of himself? If he’s really a sociopath, then get out! You’re wasting your time and energy!

But even though he doesn’t always treat you as fairly as you’d like and seems to make senseless decisions, he’s probably not one of the four percent of people who are true sociopaths. In fact, it’s likely he falls right in that 96 percent category just like the rest of us.

Yes that’s right. Your boss is just as “normal” as you are! Even though your boss can’t share most details with you about what happens behind the scenes, he probably wishes sometimes he could. Here are five things your boss wishes you understood about his job. (Click here to tweet this list.)

1. Being a manager is not the same as being an employee

A manager’s job is to make sure you do your work efficiently. A manager is not supposed to do the work himself.

Being a manager involves looking at the work, the team and the company from a different perspective. He has different tasks to accomplish than you do. He has different interests to take into account.

So even if your boss fully understands what you do, he simply can’t always make decisions in your best interest.

2. Your boss’s boss is worse than he is

The higher up the corporate ladder you go, the trickier the business game becomes. Your boss might have a much more difficult time dealing with his boss than you have dealing with yours!

Most of his work entails making sure you have as many resources and as little hassle as possible to do your job. Sometimes that means he has to go head to head with his boss to defend you. He may even take the blame for mistakes you or your colleagues have made! But you’d never know, because his boss isn’t your boss.

3. You’re not the only one who’s figuring it out

No one is simply born a good manager. Management skills take time — and trial and error — to learn. Just as you’ve had to learn to do your job, so does your manager. Just like you, they make mistakes and gain experience in that process.

The only problem for the manager is that their mistakes are often much more public than yours. Plus, those mistakes can affect you or other parts of the business.

Being a manager is much riskier than being an employee. You have to give him credit for taking on the challenge, even when he’s not perfect.

4. Delivering bad news sucks

Part of the managers’ job description is to deliver bad news to people when the situation calls for it. This could be telling an employee he’s underperforming or even that he’s fired. In the worst case scenario, a manager is asked to head up a reorganization and must lay off his colleagues.

And that’s the thing. The people who get that bad news are not just your colleagues; they’re his as well!

He’s been sitting next to them for years too, had lunch with them, shared the same inside jokes around the office. And having to be the one to tell them they’ve got to go (or even having to decide who stays and who goes) is hard for anyone. Yes, your boss is a manager, but he’s also a human.

5. Being the boss can get lonely

While it may be difficult to believe that your boss is truly human, he is! And like any human, he doesn’t like being the topic of office gossip. Just like other humans, he also wants to be included in social goings-on around the workplace.

But since managers have the weird responsibility of telling other people what to do — and people often don’t like being told what to do — bosses are often shut out from what’s going on. They don’t call it “lonely at the top” for nothing.

So yes, your boss can give you a hard time sometimes. And yes, you’re not always appreciated or acknowledged as much as you deserve to. But you know what? It’s a tough job. And it’s likely you would do a lot of the same if you were in his shoes.

So give your boss a break and let him do his job as well as you can do yours.

Linda Coussement helps entrepreneurs grow and improve their remarkable businesses. Download her 10 page interactive Vision Guide and get a flying start to the growth and improvement of YOUR business (or career). Connect with Linda on Twitter.

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