Free Article By Paul Glen of C2
Consulting
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Workplace Obligations
(This article originally appeared in
Computerworld USA and Computerworld Australia.)
Wouldn't it be nice if every boss came with a
standard API? It would be so easy to look at the interface specifications and
know exactly what he expected, in what format he expected it, when you should
deliver it, what predictable events would result from your input and how you
should handle error conditions. All the politics would go away. Those pesky
emotions would become a nonissue. Success would become deterministic.
Sadly, it will never be so simple. Every
boss-subordinate connection is a custom job. This is both the promise and the
pain of workplace relationships; they are cobbled together not of hardware or
software, but of wetware (the gray, squishy stuff between our ears).
The complaints about this are endless from the
subordinate side. "I don't know what he wants, and he won't tell me." "She
doesn't really understand what I do, so she can't tell me what she expects." "He
tells me one thing, and then when I give it to him, he changes his mind." "She
says that I have an attitude problem, but I don't really know what that means."
As it turns out, the inability to forge easily
understandable, straightforward, repeatable relationships is just as frustrating
for bosses as it is for subordinates. Supervisors would love to be able to
clearly articulate exactly what they expect so that all their people would
understand. Sadly, many managers erroneously believe that they have clearly
defined and communicated their expectations, and they just can't figure out why
no one else seems to get their vision.
I've developed a rather simple philosophy of
boss-subordinate relationships. Although not a detailed specification, it has
served me well both as a manager and as a subordinate. It comes in two parts.
Part 1. A subordinate owes the boss and the
organization three simple things:
• Candor
• Loyalty
• Delivery
That's it. If I deliver on all three of those
things, I can look myself in the mirror and feel that I've fulfilled my part of
the employment bargain. Let's take a quick look at each one, because they are
deceptively simple.
Candor. We owe the boss honest opinions
about important things on the job. As knowledge workers, we are not hired for
our muscle power; we are hired for our brain power, so we owe it to the boss to
share the fruits of our thought. That doesn't mean that we blather on about
every fleeting neural discharge, but if something is important, we need to share
our perspective.
Sometimes, this can be an unpleasant
obligation. Disagreeing with the boss is not always fun. Some managers are not
open to other people's opinions. Some are too insecure to accept them. Some
believe that power confers wisdom and that they don't need to listen to anyone
else. But the boss's receptiveness doesn't affect the obligation. If a project
is running aground, someone has to speak up before it's too late.
Loyalty. I'm not talking about the blind
fealty of a medieval vassal to his master, but rather a reasonable modicum of
this uncommon virtue.
Ultimately, part of every manager's job is to
make decisions. This includes making hard choices that may upset people. If a
manager never ticks anyone off, he is probably shirking his responsibilities. If
we have shared our opinions with our manager and he makes a decision we don't
agree with, we are obliged to get over it and implement his choice. We should
not spend endless hours trying to change things post hoc or, worse, trying to
secretly undermine the decision.
Of course, there are exceptions to the loyalty
rule. If what the boss has asked us to do is unethical, illegal, dangerous or
patently self-serving, loyalty ends there.
Delivery. And finally, when we promise
to do something, we do it.
Part 2. Bosses owe their subordinates three
simple things too:
• Candor
• Loyalty
• Delivery
Although not a detailed API, this simple
understanding can go a long way toward smoothing relationships and directing
successful careers. What we owe one another in the workplace may be vast, but in
some ways it is quite simple.
