Winning - Jack Welch [106]
All of the guys at the Table of Lost Dreams were very good at their jobs, and none of them managed anyone, so their defiance of conditions at the company was pretty much left alone. I wrote them off as harmless but effective curmudgeons who would have hated any work situation.
But tolerance is not usually what happens in these cases. Most of the time, leaders get sick of the undercurrent of whining and the energy-sapping effects of boss haters and manage them out—by showing them just what a bad boss really looks like.
Maybe this all sounds very unfamiliar to you—you’re basically comfortable with authority, and the rest of your self-examination has you coming up empty-handed too. Now what?
It’s time to find out what your boss is thinking.
Any kind of confrontation, however, is incredibly risky. Your boss may be waiting for just such a moment to dump you. In fact, he may have been hoping his negative vibes would eventually inch you into his office with the question, “So what am I doing wrong?” so that he can answer, “Too much for this to go on any longer.”
Still, you have to talk. There is no way around it. Just remember, before you go into that meeting, be prepared and have options in the event that you come out of it unemployed.
Then, go do it. Don’t be defensive. Remember, your goal is to uncover something your boss has not been able to explicitly tell you for whatever reason. Maybe he’s conflict averse or he’s just been too busy. Regardless, your objective is to extract from him the problem he has with your attitude or performance.
If you’re lucky, your boss will come clean about your shortcomings, and together, you can work on a plan to correct them and get your performance or attitude back on track. Ideally, as you give it your all to improve, his attitude toward you will as well.
Ironically, you are less lucky if you find out that your bad boss is satisfied with your performance. If that’s the case, he is being awful simply because he doesn’t particularly like you.
Which puts you in the same position as the people who work for bad bosses who act the same way…just because that’s the way they are.
For all of you, the next question is:
What’s the endgame for my boss? Sometimes it’s obvious that a bad boss is on the way out. His own bosses have signaled as much to the organization; or he himself makes it clear he can’t wait to move on. In either case, survival is just a waiting game. Deliver strong results and have a can-do approach until relief arrives.
You are in a different boat if your bad boss is not going anywhere anytime soon.
More than a decade ago, I drew the chart below to categorize types of leaders, and to help me talk about who should stay and who should leave.
The chart split leaders according to their results—good or bad—and how well they lived GE’s values, such as candor, voice, dignity, and boundarylessness.
* * *
TYPE 1:
TYPE 2:
Good values/Good performance
Bad values/Bad performance
* * *
TYPE 3:
TYPE 4:
Good values/Bad performance
Bad values/Good performance
* * *
Type 1 bosses, in the top left corner, are the people you want to reward and promote and hold up as examples to the rest of the company. Type 2 bosses, in the upper right corner, have to go, the sooner the better, and usually do.
Type 3 bosses, in the bottom left corner, really believe in the company’s values and practice them in earnest, but just can’t get the results. Those individuals should be coached and mentored, and given another chance or two in other parts of the company.
Most bad bosses are in the lower right corner—Type 4—and they are the most difficult to deal with. They often get to hang around for a long time, despite their awful behavior, because of their good results.
Most good companies usually know about these people and eventually move them out.
But every company, even the good ones, keeps some managers in this quadrant for longer than they should. It