Sounds shocking, but the first place to look is: at yourself. You're a good worker and you want to move ahead, right? You believe your boss is holding you back? Be honest, do you think the whole problem is your boss? What about you? Are you holding "you" back?

Dealing with Bosses. Bosses are just people like you. They have wants and needs. If you want a good and loyal boss, you have to be a good and loyal employee. Wow! That hurts, doesn't it? All this time you assumed you were the best employee who ever got hired. Then, I show up and burst that little bubble. But, I've been on both sides of the fence.

Money, Respect and Recognition

As an employee, I wanted money, respect and recognition. What I have found is that money is not as important as the other two, respect and recognition. One day, I had a discussion with my boss, a director in a large communications company. I told him what I wanted. I told how I did everything I was assigned and did it well. "Why couldn't I get promoted above my grade level?" His simple answer both shocked me and gave a perspective which I had not thought about. "What did you do above and beyond your assignments?" I have to admit I was taken aback and I started to think. He was right. If I had taken more initiative and produced more than he was paying me to do, then.... It was after that conversation, I realized that he had expectations for me, too. Had I not asked my question, I would still be in the dark.

Managers and Bosses

On the other hand, most managers and bosses, in my experience, don't really communicate their goals to subordinates. They simply huff and puff when you don't complete the assignment correctly and on the other hand, say nothing when the job gets done properly. Many managers don't know how to communicate with subordinates; tell them what they expect. Some are afraid to look as though they are friendly because they fear that the result will be a loss of authority over a subordinate.

Yes, there is a thin line separating the boss and employee. But, if you are confident in your ability and are a "good" manager, you would like to see your workers grow, become more efficient and lighten your load, right? Your job, as a manager, is to develop subordinates, improve their abilities and have them replace you, so that you can move on.

Never Thought About That?

One of my subordinate managers at AT&T had the aptitude and drive to take over administration of a computer based financial model used by regulatory cost study groups all over the country. I asked (Helen) if she wanted to take over full responsibility and she eagerly jumped at the chance. I trusted her and she became the resident "Guru". This allowed me to pursue additional duties and establish a more exciting role for myself as a Regulatory Cost Expert for the entire country. I was able to move on by leaving a competent person in my wake. I won and she won.

More Important than Money

Bosses and employees want compensation, respect and responsibility and not necessarily in that order. At the risk of sounding like some psychoanalyst, I have found both in Corporate America (over 25 years) and in small businesses ( 20 years more) that employees want compensation but really desire respect and responsibility more.

Wouldn't it be great to know what your boss is looking for...and how you can perform over and above the expectation? Simply put, employees, including bosses, (your boss is an employee, too; even if he is the owner of the business) have simple needs, just like you. They also want monetary compensation, respect and responsibility in their jobs.

Respect

But what is respect? You already know that one, too. You want others to respect you as a person and recognize who you are, a good person, willing to work hard and earn your monetary compensation, right? But you also want responsibility. That's what really gives you job satisfaction. How do you get it?

Give Them More Responsibility

In one of our small businesses, our employees were high school students. In my discussion with that Director, I also learned that delegating to subordinates shows my confidence in their abilities. Each employee has talent to be nurtured and utilized.

Remember, your job as a manager is to help your employees grow. My wife and I recognized the talents of our teenage employees: they had opinions about our movie selection; many of our customers asked for movies we would not watch ( horror, death and other mayhem) and we trusted our young employees who loved them.

We delegated customer interfacing and satisfaction to our employees. I was careful to explain in front of my customers that they were more familiar with certain movie selections than we were. Many customers returned and complemented our employees and I passed on their comments to "our kids".

The Upshot of Our Faith

Our employees knew we relied on them to satisfy our customers. I remember the store being very crowded one weekend around closing time. Customers were lined up at the counter wanting to make their purchases. Not one of my teenage employees made a move to leave at quitting time. They worked diligently until every customer was served. We closed more than a half hour late that night. Needless to say, I was impressed and paid them for their extra time. And, oh yes, several times when an employee asked to leave early for a family commitment or a date, I didn't hesitate to let him or her leave and I still paid them for their normal hours.

In fact, two other employees, without my suggesting it, visited our competitors, analyzed my sales data and made recommendations, which I implemented. Three of these former teenage employees went on to bigger and better things. We would like to think we had some minor impact on their careers. Jeanette, now works as a fashion designer for Target Stores, Eric became a computer consultant for AT&T. Pam went on to her own business as an Exercise Therapist.

Good Management Style

Did our management style help them in their careers? I would never presume that it did, but I learned a lot from both experiences, in the larger company and the small.... If you treat your employees well and allow them to grow, using their abilities, you will be successful in business. Are you the best manager you can be?

Good Employee Style

As an employee, are you doing as much as you can to improve the business you work in? Are you going above and beyond the basic requirements of your "job"? Does your boss know you true talents? Do you respect the fact that your boss has similar needs and wants? Are you the best employee you can be?

You can't have one without the other!