How to overcome your boss from hell
Idiots are all around us whether we like it or not. And at times, these idiots tend to be someone important to us, for example, our bosses/supervisors.
My first boss was an idiot, a female boss from hell. She didn’t allow me to do my own study, cannot take a nap, cannot surf internet, cannot do this n that. I was only allowed to read the documentation, photostating, binding, and that’s it. She even went back to the main office and complained to everyone that I’ve sabotaged her, causing everyone in the team to boycott her. I was only there for 2 weeks. =_= As if I have such a strong influence.
What happened next is the project manager approached me and chat with me. That was when I started to explain everything. The manager knew what was happening but he could not do anything. A 10-year-serving-employee VS a-trainee-who-only-works-for-3-months. I was obviously on the wrong side of things. In the end, I approached my university faculty for advice. The associate dean and the lecturer helped me to “settle” the issue.
I think this kind of thing does happen to people from time to time – when your boss is a complete idiot. What you can do is…not much.
- You can try to talk to other colleagues and see if they feel the same way – the boss being an idiot. AVOID accusing the boss at all cost. Just try to hint and see what is their opinion on the boss.
- If they feel the same, then maybe you can talk face to face with the boss.
- But if that failed or you are not comfortable with it, then approach the boss’ supervisor. Send an email regarding your concern and say it as honestly as possible. That’s your role as an employee.
- If nothing can be done (things can get sour from here, since you might be accused of creating problems), then change department.
- If that still cannot be done, then it’s time to pack up and find another job. Just make sure you leave in a good note – be it with your colleagues, your boss or your boss’ bosses.
Overall, it will get a mind-wrecking experience and you WILL become tired especially if you choose to continue working there. But that’s how things are when you are unlucky. Remember that we’re not here in this world to get tortured by somebody and feel unhappy. Enjoy life. You deserve it.
In this instance, I’d say 1/3 the blame lies with the female boss, 1/3 lies with the idiot who promoted her to become boss, and 1/3 lies with the ceo who approved the promotion.
Most companies claim they manage by objective i.e. who cares if their managers are complete idiots as long as they deliver results. My own study says these co’s can get revenue BUT the cost of mismanagement often reduces or cancels out any profit they stand to make.
So what’s the point if $$$ comes in left pocket and goes out of right pocket to pay for unplanned recruitment cost, retraining cost, project delays and opportunity cost. Idiocy can go all the way to the top.
@ Damien
That’s why most companies can only see solutions to fix short term problems but cannot see long term problem is coming their way. Their mentality is more like “if they can survive for one more day, then they will do it without thinking of what might happen 2 days later”.
There’s a basis for this short-sightedness. In the US, Wall Street lives and dies by the almighty quarterly report. To pass this quarterly beauty parade, companies are forced to adopt short term solutions. They bypass tough fixes that might risk short term success. Regulatory bodies have long been nervous about how this is forming false economic bubbles.
Over here I think its more because many companies are measured by their top line than bottom line. They can be very effective in promoting their goods while being very inefficient in managing cost. Try scoring some local companies on ratios like net profit per head and you could be in for a shock.
@ Damien
That’s why Wall Street is on fire now. All those “short term fixes” have finally come together to create a big mess.
Local companies? If not for “relationship”, I doubt they can survive. That’s why 90% of them are relatively unknown in the global market.