uplIft: Feb 03, 2022
Perspective
Reboot
“The concept of taking timely breaks to reboot and rejuvenate is as pivotal to our lives as the concept of reboot & charging to our phones.
We often use our vacation time for the travel or a family obligation or a wrapping up a personal chore. Vacation does not equal reboot time, it is more like servicing time when the gadget isn’t performing!
To reboot and service ourselves, we need to consciously curate things that help take our mind of work & life issues completely, reinvigorate ourselves – even if for a brief while.
The more frequent your reboot sessions, the less time consuming they can be. If you can do something that rejuvenates you daily, it makes you less fragile to things around you.”
Career Conundrum
How do you tackle a micro-managing boss?
People micro-manage for 3 reasons. They are unaware of their management style, they are once bitten & twice shy of entrusting others with responsibility, and they like to be in control.
A two-step process could help solve for this.
Step 1: Trust builds with deliberate small action, repeated multiple times over.
A. Consciously agree with your boss things you will be doing,
B. Ensure he/she is kept up-to-date as per their preferred communication frequency, and then
C. Most importantly, do as you promised and tell him you did it
Step 2: Debrief with your boss at regular intervals, minimum monthly, on how you are performing against agreed action steps. If he/ she acknowledges progress on your work, ask for more responsibility and less oversight – and in return agree to a mutually comfortable update & review frequency.
If he expresses dissatisfaction on your progress, then repeat Step 1 at least 2-3 times.
If people want to change you can see the signs in a few weeks/ months of concerted effort. If there is no noticeable change, it means people do not want to change their working/ management style and therefore it requires you to consciously explore other options including having a chat with your skip level (if he/she is open to connect) to share your concerns, else looking for other roles (within or outside the company).
POint to POnder
What’s the top skill you appreciate while working for a leader? How would you rate yourself on that skill? If it’s low to intermediate, how can build that skill?
