Workforce surveys are released each year
where workers lament over incompetency of their bosses. It is not necessarily the fault of
the boss that he or she is so incompetent so that work suffers and employees
grumble. Blame it on the Peter Principle.
The Peter Principle states that "every employee tends to rise to their
level of incompetence." It doesn’t matter the size or the industry, it’s a
problem that’s found just about everywhere. It then follows that
employees who are still in the trenches are the ones most likely to want to do
a great job. Hopefully, that’s you.
Though incompetent bosses may seem out of control,
they actually behave in predictable ways. An incompetent boss thinks he knows
what he's doing when he doesn't. Incompetent bosses will
throw more work your way until you're on overload and then yell when you can't
finish assignments on time. They’ll accept a customer's completely unreasonable
deadline and have no clue what it takes to meet that deadline—leaving you to
save the day. These types of bosses have a fear that their secret—that they're
lazy and irresponsible and they desperately need their subordinates to cover for
them--will be found out.
How can you work with an incompetent boss and keep your sanity?
--Prioritize - When an incompetent boss dumps
another emergency on your desk, say something like 'Be glad to handle this.
Which of your other requests would you prefer to delegate to someone else?'
Make him commit to delegate some of your work before he has a chance to
breathe. Your workload will then remain more manageable.
--Clarify Expectations - As soon as the
incompetent boss assigns you a piece of work, start taking notes and then go
over the notes with him. Even an incompetent boss will not be blind to the fact
that your notes, documenting his "here’s what I want" can all too easily be
taken upstairs if there is heat later on.
--Check Your Work - Ask your incompetent boss
to sign off on your work. At his "Huh?" just smile and tell him how much you
appreciate his clarifying things for you. It is an ego stroke that works every
time. Once he has given his okay, leave before he can change his mind. Because
you have forced him to document his approval of your work, he is less likely to
make further changes.
By following the above guidelines, you’ve made your incompetent boss
look competent by forcing him to become more responsible for the work he gives
you. You can now do your job with less stress and minimal
waste of time, energy and resources. The Peter Principle still applies, but at
least your boss’ incompetence will have less of an impact on you.
For tips on working with specific bad boss types, go to http://www.noellenelson.com, on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/GotABadBoss or at https://twitter.com/GotABadBoss.
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