How to Do a Good Job Despite Having a Bad Boss
If you never had an arrogant, authoritative, backstabbing and nagging bad boss, consider yourself lucky. Most people have had at least one that made their working life a living hell.
Resigning from your job might be the best escape plan but in reality, not everyone has the luxury of leaving especially those with pressing financial and familial obligations. Until you find a more suitable opportunity, the only option left at this point is survival. As blogger Jeff Cuellar of Moneysmart.sg would put it, “Don’t quit when things get hard – elevate your “game” to meet challenges.”
But how do we elevate our game? Here are a few good ways to deal with a bad boss:
- Be indispensable
If you can (and willing to), master the aspects of your job and make yourself a key employee, then it can work to your advantage. It may lead your boss to see you in a new perspective that can lead to a more agreeable behavior towards you. It can also get you promoted and take you out of your boss’s supervision. Being indispensable at work can present various positive outcomes but most importantly, you will feel the self-satisfaction knowing that you did your very best despite a tough situation.
- Stick to who you are and your values
Having a bad boss at work can manifest feelings of powerlessness and resentment, don’t let these change who you are. It’s normal to work on reports to perfection to impress your boss but if you believe what you are asked to do is in conflict with your values and what is right, never buy in.
- See things through your boss’s eyes
Putting yourself in your boss’s shoes may not be the best advice you need when you are clouded with his unfavorable behavior towards you, but understanding the place of others can actually change your perspective. Go into the factors of what fears, motivators and hopes that drive their behavior. Your boss’s boss may have brought a multitude of pressures from many sources. The more you understand the reason that your boss is experiencing, the more you’ll be able to get the bigger picture. Empathy can be a powerful tool than merely focusing on our own emotions.
- Never fight alone
When battling a tough situation, we always go back to the good old saying that “no man is an island.” Many life survivors triumph over life because they have strong bond with the people around them and that is no exception to demoralized employees. Connecting to your colleagues inside and outside the office is scientifically proven by experts to help you reduce boss-induced stress. Other ways of building social relationships with colleagues can also be in the form of appreciating them and celebrating small/big victories—this positive karma will surely find its way back to you.
At the end of it all, it is you who is in control of your own career and it can be in many forms—that includes dealing with a bad boss. And it doesn’t have to be a painful one.